As stars wear black at Valentino's funeral, tributes are dressed in red

"To honour him, the cover of Vogue Italia's February issue out this month will be a take on Valentino red, while Donatella Versace wore a bright red suit when she went to pay tribute to her fellow designer, as he lay in state in Rome on Thursday. If most of the mourners at his funeral on Friday including the actor Anne Hathaway, and fashion's Anna Wintour,"

"Called Fiesta, it was a strapless gown decorated with a series of roses across a full skirt. He was famously inspired by the sight of an older woman at the opera wearing a red dress, and how she stood out from the crowd. It was this impact that arguably made the designer continue to use the colour throughout his career, says Alistair O'Neill, the curator of Somerset House's Valentino: Master of Couture exhibition in 2012."

"But, as images of women wearing Valentino's dresses testify, the particular shade scarlet, with a hint of blue was key. It's a tone that works across a range of skin colours and it makes nearly all women look great, says O'Neill. I think that's because it's a very pure and clean colour but it has a luminosity about it. Charlie Porter, a fashion writer who worked on Valentino Rosso, a 2022 coffee table book about the colour,"

Valentino Garavani died at 93, and the designer's trademark red and specific shade known as Valentino red returned to public focus. Vogue Italia's February cover will feature a take on Valentino red, and Donatella Versace wore a bright red suit while paying tribute as he lay in state in Rome. Many mourners wore black at the funeral, though some incorporated red accessories. Valentino produced his first red dress, called Fiesta, in 1959; it was a strapless gown with roses across a full skirt and was inspired by an older woman at the opera. The scarlet tone, with a hint of blue, became central to his work, flattering many skin colours, and Valentino developed the shade before Pantone standardized colours.

Read at www.theguardian.com