Valentino Garavani, an icon of Italian fashion, founder of his eponymous maison, and widely regarded as one of the greatest designers of all time, died in Rome on January 19, surrounded by his loved ones.
Born in Voghera, Italy on May 11, 1932, he showed remarkable artistic talent from an early age, which led him to study drawing and fashion in Paris, where he worked with couturiers such as Jean Dessès and Guy Laroche.
Upon returning to Italy, he opened his first atelier on Via Condotti in Rome in 1960, supported by his business partner, Giancarlo Giammetti. International success soon followed: his debut show at Florence’s Palazzo Pitti in 1962 marked his breakthrough, establishing him as an undisputed standard-bearer of Italian fashion worldwide. In 1968, the famous “V” logo was introduced, later becoming the emblem of the maison. Equally iconic is his signature red, inspired by a gown he saw at the opera in his youth, which made this shade a defining hallmark of the house.
Valentino Garavani announced his retirement in 2007, at the age of 75, with a final show celebrating his extraordinary career. His legacy is also chronicled in the 2008 documentary directed by Matt Tyrnauer: “Valentino: The Last Emperor.”
Garavani’s lying in state will be held at PM23, Piazza Mignanelli 23 in Rome, on Wednesday and Thursday, January 21 and 22, 2026, from 11:00 to 18:00. The funeral will take place on Friday, January 23, 2026, at 11:00, at the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri, Piazza della Repubblica 8, Rome.
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Alix Morabito, director of assortment and buying at Galeries Lafayette, is rounding out her team within a newly restructured buying division. To lead buying for the pivotal womenswear and leather goods segment, the Parisian department store has turned to a rival currently in the midst of a revamp: La Samaritaine.
Victoria Dartigues has been appointed Director of Womenswear and Leather Goods Buying at Galeries Lafayette – David Atlan/ Galeries Lafayette
Victoria Dartigues has taken up her new post after four years heading buying and merchandising at LVMH’s Right Bank department store in Paris. Since 2019, she has been with DFS, the luxury group’s duty-free subsidiary that spearheaded the Paris project, and played a key role in the relaunch of La Samaritaine.
For Victoria Dartigues, a graduate of HEC Montréal and IFM, this appointment at Galeries Lafayette is something of a homecoming: her first experience in Parisian department stores was as a buying assistant at Galeries Lafayette. She went on to join rival Printemps as a womenswear buyer in 2012.
After more than six years at the Printemps group, where she rose to head of merchandising overseeing the designer offer, she spent a stint at Kenzo before moving to DFS in 2019.
“A specialist in the multi-brand and department store sector, she has built strong relationships with brands over the years, curating assortments and leading negotiations,” Galeries Lafayette said in a press release. The group added that her appointment completes a buying leadership team comprising Alice Feillard for menswear and footwear, Pascale Leboutet-Reberat for beauty, and Violaine Moreau, who has been promoted to head up childrenswear, home and luggage.
“This new structure addresses the strategic challenge of asserting Galeries Lafayette’s commercial and creative vision through an increasingly exclusive offering,” the group said in its press release.
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Great Portland Estates (GPE) has appointed a new chief financial officer, with Jayne Cottam joining the London-centric commercial property firm’s board from 16 March.
Great Portland Estates
She succeeds Nick Sanderson who is stepping down as GPE’s chief financial & operating officer to take up the position of chief financial officer at British real estate services company Savills from 30 January.
Cottam “brings significant financial leadership and operational experience” stock market-listed GPE said on announcing her appointment to the London Stock Exchange Monday (19 January).
Most recently, she served as CFO of healthcare property company Assura from September 2017 to December 2025.
GPE chair William Eccleshare said: “Jayne brings a wealth of skills, knowledge and experience which will be invaluable to the board and management team as we progress our growth agenda.” And CEO Toby Courtauld added: “Jayne brings an excellent blend of financial, operational and leadership qualities with the right values for GPE’s culture.”
She joins at a time when analysts are noting that GPE continues to outperform the broader UK property sector, boosted not only by slowly increasing demand for London offices but also via its catchment area of prime prime West End retail sites that continue to be in high demand as the company continues to capture the ‘flight to quality trend’.
The company’s most recent investor commentary reiterated “stable-to-improving” leasing momentum across its core West End and City portfolio.
Footasylum‘s busy store-opening strategy of 2025 has continued into the new year with the footwear/sportswear business now planing to open a “landmark” new store in the Trinity Leeds shopping centre in April.
Footaylum
The 12,000 sq ft store “builds on Footasylum’s long-standing presence in Leeds”, and follows the “strong performance” of its former store at The Core shopping centre and last year’s “successful” pop-up at Trinity Leeds, it said.
The new store will be located on the centre’s lower ground floor in the unit previously occupied by Superdry.
To celebrate the spring opening, Footasylum said will be “bringing its social media strategy from the screens to the streets” with a series of events in-store.
It will also be partnering with local businesses “to celebrate the incredible talent within the city and connect with consumers at a local level”, it added.
On the latest opening, Shannon Osman, head of Retail at Footasylum, added: “Leeds has always been a strong market for [us]. The response to our pop-up in the Trinity shopping centre last year and our previous store at The Core demonstrated clear demand for a bigger, permanent Footasylum presence in the city.
“This store represents an important step as we continue our rollout across the UK and beyond under Aurelius’ ownership. Investing in high-quality retail spaces remains central to our multi-brand, multi-channel strategy, and we look forward to further openings in the year ahead.”
Footasylum added that the Trinity Leeds opening forms part of its ongoing UK store rollout and follows a number of recent openings including Cornmill Centre, Darlington, Croft Retail and Leisure Park, Bromborough and Forster Square shopping centre, Bradford.
Separately, the company also noted that it continues to progress its international expansion programme having signed a distribution agreement with MAD agency across the DACH region of Germany, Austria and Switzerland in November.
In addition, a new strategic partnership with Apparel Group was signed in December, “setting in motion plans to open Footasylum stores across the Gulf Cooperation Council region”, including the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman.