Luxury fashion house Valentino to stage show on Spanish Steps in Rome this summer.

Legendary Italian fashion designer Valentino Garavani, known worldwide simply as Valentino, will celebrate his 90th birthday on 11 May with a private party at his villa on Via Appia Antica in Rome.

Born in Voghera in Italy's Lombardy region in 1932, the flamboyant designer founded the Valentino brand and company in Rome in 1959 after completing his formal training in Paris.

In 1960 he met Giancarlo Giammetti, an architecture student, who would soon become Valentino's partner, both professionally and romantically.

Together they built a globally recognised brand which became famed for its "Valentino red" dresses.

By the mid-1960s Valentino's creations were a favourite of some of the world's best-known celebrities, including Jacqueline Kennedy, Elizabeth Taylor and Audrey Hepburn.

In 1998, Valentino and Giammetti sold their company for approximately $300 million to Italian conglomerate HdP.

In 2008 Valentino held his final haute couture show in Paris, featuring top models Naomi Campbell, Claudia Schiffer and Eva Herzigova. 

The luxury fashion house will unveil its 2022/23 autumn-winter collection with a fashion show at the Spanish Steps, near Valentino's historic headquarters in Piazza Mignanelli, on 8 July.