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Jan 20, 2026 8:11am PT
Valentino Received a Fittingly Gorgeous Tribute in This 570-Page Photo Book Before the Fashion Designer’s Death
The visual memoir features hundreds of archival images, sketches, editorial shoots and personal portraits from the late designer.
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A recent photo book celebrating the legacy of designer Valentino Garavani (more often referred to as as the mononymous Mr. Valentino) now serves as a fitting tribute following the iconic designer’s death last week.
Published by Taschen and spanning hundreds of archival images, sketches, editorial shoots and personal portraits, “Una Grande Storia Italiana” (translated roughly as “A Grand Italian Epic”) reads like Valentino’s own visual memoir — a sprawling narrative of his ascendancy from Rome’s cobblestone boutiques to the world’s most exclusive red carpets.
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Originally released as a limited collector’s edition — each copy bound in bespoke Valentino red silk and numbered out of just 2,000 — the tome now functions as a monumental documentation of a designer who shaped the language of femininity for nearly half a century. The book collects not just dresses but his sensibilities as a designer: the folds of chiffon that draped Elizabeth Taylor at a premiere, the velvet and lace that defined Princess Madeleine of Sweden’s wedding gown and, of course, the countless iterations of “Valentino red.”
After founding his company in 1960, Valentino quickly caught the eye of several high-profile women — including Elizabeth Taylor, who donned a Valentino gown at the premiere of 1960’s “Spartacus,” and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, who ordered six of his couture dresses to wear in mourning following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963. Garavani then designed Kennedy’s wedding look when she married Aristotle Onassis in 1968, with the two-piece’s high neck, lace top and bold above-the-knee cut solidifying both her and Garavani as style icons. Photos, sketches and writings about each of these looks, among many others, are explored in the Taschen release.
The book is fittingly written by the celebrated documentary filmmaker Matt Tyrnauer, who chronicled the designer’s opulent lifestyle in the 2008 movie “Valentino: The Last Emperor.” The project premiered at the Venice Film Festival that year.
Purchase “Una Grande Storia Italiana” on Amazon here.
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