10,000 people pay respects to Valentino during public viewing over past two days in Rome.
Hollywood stars joined leading figures from the fashion world in Rome on Friday morning at the funeral of iconic Italian designer Valentino Garavani who died on Monday aged 93.
Valentino’s coffin entered the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli, which was decorated entirely in white flowers, to the music of Mozart’s Lacrimosa.
The coffin was accompanied by Valentino’s partner Vernon Bruce Hoeksema, his longtime companion and business partner Giancarlo Giammetti, and his godsons Sean and Anthony Sax.
Among the mourners were leading figures from the Italian and global fashion world, including designers Donatella Versace, Anna Fendi, Brunello Cuccinelli and Tom Ford, current Valentino creative director Alessandro Michele and his predecessor Pierpaolo Piccioli, and former Vogue magazine editor Anna Wintour.
Hollywood stars Anne Hathaway and Elizabeth Hurley were also in attendance. Supermodel Claudia Schiffer sent a red rose while a floral wreath from the legendary Italian actress Sophia Loren was inscribed: “Always in my heart”.
A handwritten message in Italian placed on the barriers outside the Roman church read: “The whole world mourns Valentino. We have lost the most beautiful flower.”
The funeral comes after around 10,000 people queued up over the previous two days to pay their respects to the designer at a public viewing at the Valentino foundation’s headquarters near the Spanish Steps.
Photo credit: Joe Seer / Shuterstock.com.
