29 Arts In Progress

Today we say farewell to Valentino Garavani, a man who shaped the very idea of elegance, beauty, and timeless style.

The first portrait, taken in 1962, captures Valentino Garavani at the very beginning of his journey — already composed, already unmistakable. A quiet, intense image that reveals an innate sense of grace and discipline.

These photographs show Valentino as seen through the eyes of his great friend Gian Paolo Barbieri: intimate, thoughtful, effortlessly refined. They belong to a time when fashion was not only about garments, but about vision, culture, and a shared pursuit of absolute beauty.

Among them, a contact sheet from Rome, 1969, also portrays Valentino Garavani together with Giancarlo Giammetti, bearing witness to the early years of a partnership that would redefine haute couture and leave an indelible mark on fashion history.

More than portraits, these images are fragments of a shared life — of trust, admiration, and creative complicity. A silent dialogue between a couturier and a photographer, united by the same idea of elegance beyond time.

Valentino Garavani’s legacy lives on, not only in silhouettes and gowns, but in an enduring vision of grace.

© Gian Paolo Barbieri
Courtesy Fondazione Gian Paolo Barbieri

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