Farah Lister

The mononymously known Italian designer Valentino Clemente Ludovico Garavani (b. 1932) is renowned for his fashion house of romantic styles and feminine shapes that he founded in Rome in 1960. Valentino dresses, skirts and other apparel captured the hearts of many of Italy’s wealthiest ladies in the couturier’s early days and led to commissions from Babe Paley, Gloria Guinness, Jayne Wrightsman and others on the international best-dressed list (when it still meant something). They sought out Valentino for gorgeous gowns, jackets, elegant daytime wear and even when they needed wedding dresses.

An early fascination with fashion developed when Valentino attended the theater as a child and was dazzled by the evening gowns on stage. While a teenager in Voghera, Lombardy, he studied under Italian designer Ernestina Salvadeo and soon moved to Paris, where he trained at the École des Beaux-Arts and the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne. Valentino spent time apprenticing under haute couturiers Jean Dessès and Guy Laroche, learning how to design and construct high fashion while also thinking about how to strike out on his own.

In 1959, Valentino returned to Italy, and a year later, he opened his own salon, soon joining with longtime professional and personal partner Giancarlo Giammetti. It was located on Rome’s trendy Via Condotti and modeled after the French maisons. One of his earliest clients was Elizabeth Taylor, who discovered Valentino while she was in Rome filming Cleopatra and ordered the white dress that she wore to the premiere of Spartacus.

When the designer launched his first couture line in 1962 with its fiery red colors, it was internationally celebrated, with Valentino soon attiring fashion trendsetters including Princess Margaret and Audrey Hepburn. He formed an especially close friendship with Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, for whom he designed numerous dresses. Luxurious drapery with fine needlework, bold uses of color and dramatic flourishes would define Valentino fashion across the decades.

As a fashion house, Valentino is best known for its signature Valentino Red color, though one of its iconic lines is the monochromatic “no colour” collection for which the designer won the Neiman Marcus Award in 1967. (The collection also debuted his trademark “V.”) The white dresses and beige dresses led to a demand for Valentino wedding gowns, with clients including Elizabeth Taylor, Jennifer Lopez and Anne Hathaway.

Valentino retired from his fashion empire in 2007, with Alessandra Facchinetti and then the duo Maria Grazia Chiuri (who departed in 2016) and Pierpaolo Piccioli succeeding him as creative directors. But Valentino still steps out of retirement for special occasions, such as designing a wedding gown for Princess Madeleine of Sweden in 2013.

Today, the brand offers a range of collections that include the Valentino Garavani line and REDValentino, a diffusion line that is aimed at a younger audience. The house has expanded far beyond women’s haute couture and prêt-à-porter to encompass various lines of accessories, including shoes, sunglasses, scarves and perfume. 

Find vintage Valentino evening dresses, handbags and other items on 1stDibs now.

With entire museum exhibitions dedicated to examining fashion designers and their creations, we’re finally recognizing that costuming is art. Evening dresses over time have conveyed specific statements about social class, position and beliefs. Fashion is a powerful means of self-expression, and sophisticated vintage evening dresses and gowns by our favorite couturier play no small role in making us feel wonderful but, perhaps more importantly, making us feel like ourselves.

In the 16th century, dresses and gowns were so important that England's Queen Elizabeth I defined rules about what dresses women could wear — guidance included long skirts and fitted bodices. Forward-thinking designers have responded to this history.

Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel reimagined traditionally masculine garments for feminine shapes, and her elegant evening dresses and gowns promoted comfort and grace in women’s wear that had been dominated in the previous century by layers of fabric. Christian Dior's gowns celebrated luxury and femininity in the late 1940s — and gave to women the gift of glamour they’d lost in the miserable years of the war. French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent introduced innovative and highly coveted dress designs in the 1960s while at the same time challenging sexist stereotypes about which members of society could wear tuxedos.

Works by unconventional British designer John Galliano — featured in houses like Givenchy and Dior — redefined limits that dressmakers faced in terms of material, construction and vision during the late 20th century. From his embroidered absinthe-green Oscars gown for actress Nicole Kidman to the iconic sleeveless Dior newspaper dress that Sex and the City’s Carrie Bradshaw made famous, Galliano’s intricate and multifaceted work is reliably collectible and newsworthy

Today’s designers target an increasingly broad audience with their boundary-crossing work, and their tendency to play off of each other’s ideas means that every walk down the runway is also a walk through an entire history of fashion design and dress craftsmanship.

Whether you gravitate toward backless maxi dresses or silk charmeuse gowns by Alexander McQueen or embellished, ruffled floral-print designs by Chloe or Versace, there is an extraordinary collection of vintage and designer evening dresses and gowns waiting for you on 1stDibs.