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Legendary Italian fashion designer Valentino Garavani devoted his life to creating outfits that celebrated women’s beauty and dignity, his longtime partner Giancarlo Giammetti said on Tuesday, following the designer’s death at the age of 93. Speaking to journalists outside Valentino’s headquarters in Rome, Giammetti said the designer always believed fashion should enhance women rather than overshadow them. “He often said, ‘It’s not my fault, I just love beauty,’” Giammetti said. “From a creative point of view, he taught us to respect women.” Valentino, who founded his fashion house in 1960, dressed some of the world’s most famous women, including Elizabeth Taylor, Nancy Reagan, Sharon Stone and Julia Roberts. He was known for creating iconic red-carpet looks and for his signature shade, widely known as “Valentino red”. Giammetti said Valentino’s lasting legacy was the belief that fashion exists to embellish, not to ridicule. His business partner’s vision and craftsmanship helped turn the Valentino label into one of the world’s most recognisable luxury brands. Valentino’s body will lie in state from Wednesday at the Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti Foundation, next to the designer’s historic atelier in central Rome. On Tuesday, admirers gathered outside the foundation, laying red roses in tribute. Among them was 21-year-old fashion student Luca Bonilli, who said Valentino had been a source of inspiration. “It is a great loss. Even for those who are not deeply interested in fashion, he was an important figure,” Bonilli said. Valentino’s funeral will be held on Friday at the Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels and of the Martyrs in the Italian capital.   With inputs from NDTV

Valentino Garavani, the celebrated Italian fashion designer whose glamorous gowns dressed generations of royals, first ladies and Hollywood stars, has died at the age of 93. The Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti Foundation said in a statement posted on social media that the designer died at his residence in Rome on Monday. No cause of death was disclosed. Universally known simply as Valentino, he was famed for his high-glamour creations, often in his signature shade of “Valentino red”, and remained a dominant force on international runways for nearly half a century. “Valentino Garavani was not only a constant guide and inspiration for all of us, but a true source of light, creativity and vision,” the foundation said. Adored by generations of royals, first ladies and movie stars, Valentino dressed icons ranging from Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Julia Roberts to Queen Rania of Jordan and Diana, Princess of Wales. He once said, “I know what women want. They want to be beautiful.” Although Italian-born and based in Rome, Valentino regularly unveiled his collections in Paris, establishing himself as a global symbol of elegance and timeless style. Tributes poured in from across the fashion world. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni described him as “an indisputable maestro of eternal style and elegance of Italian high fashion.” Designers, supermodels and celebrities also expressed their sorrow, hailing him as a master of his craft. Born on May 11, 1932, in Voghera in northern Italy, Valentino trained in Milan and Paris before founding the Valentino fashion house on Rome’s Via Condotti in 1959 with his longtime partner Giancarlo Giammetti, who managed the business side of the empire. His career spanned from the early 1960s to his retirement in 2008, during which he became the designer of choice for red-carpet events, dressing Oscar winners including Julia Roberts and Cate Blanchett. Valentino’s empire later expanded into ready-to-wear, menswear and accessories, and the brand was sold in 1998 for an estimated 300 million dollars. He continued designing for another decade before stepping down. A public viewing will be held at the Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti Foundation on Wednesday and Thursday, while his funeral is scheduled for Friday in central Rome.

Safari Martins, known online as Chief Safro, gives haircuts using unconventional tools—including a razor-sharp shovel—at his roadside shack in Kiambu, on Nairobi’s outskirts. His unusual approach has made him one of Kenya’s most recognized barbers, with nearly one million followers each on Instagram and TikTok. Born in Rwanda, Martins began barbering in 2018 while in high school, offering trims outside classrooms with borrowed clippers. Five years later, he embraced social media, dropping traditional tools in favor of dramatic implements and creating videos that combine haircuts with African folk tales and cultural voiceovers. Customers, like Ian Njenga, pay a premium for both the haircut and a chance at social media exposure. Martins charges up to 1,500 Kenyan shillings (around $12), far above typical Nairobi rates. While social media in Kenya has grown rapidly—reaching 15.1 million users by 2025—Martins says barbers often struggle to monetize content compared to creators in gaming or lifestyle niches. “Barbers get viral but are not respected,” he says. Source: AP 

Buckingham Palace will stage the largest-ever exhibition of the late Queen Elizabeth II’s fashion next year, showcasing around 200 items — including many never publicly displayed — to mark what would have been her 100th birthday, officials announced Tuesday. The exhibition, titled “Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style,” will run from April 10 to October 18, 2026, and will feature the monarch’s iconic gowns, including her wedding and coronation dresses, as well as opulent outfits worn during state occasions over her historic 70-year reign. Elizabeth, who died in September 2022 at the age of 96, was Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, and her wardrobe is considered one of the most important archives of 20th-century British fashion. She would have celebrated her centenary on April 21, 2026. Highlights include a tulle bridesmaid dress worn by an 8-year-old Princess Elizabeth in 1934, along with many couture creations by her most influential designer, Norman Hartnell. Hartnell designed some of the queen’s most memorable looks, including the apple-green gown she wore at a 1957 state banquet for U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, a pastel blue gown for her sister Princess Margaret’s wedding in 1960, as well as her wedding and coronation dresses. Visitors will also see items from the queen’s private wardrobe, ranging from riding outfits and Harris tweed jackets to raincoats, headscarves, design sketches, and fabric samples that offer insight into the process behind dressing the monarch. A notable piece is a transparent raincoat by Hardy Amies from the 1960s, designed to display Elizabeth’s vibrant daywear to crowds regardless of the weather. The exhibition will also feature creations by contemporary British designers Erdem Moralioglu, Richard Quinn, and Christopher Kane, reflecting the queen’s enduring influence on modern fashion. “Queen Elizabeth II’s wardrobe is one of the most significant living archives in modern fashion history,” said Kane. “Her garments tell the story of Britain and its changing identity through fashion and provide a masterclass in silhouette, construction, symbolism, and restraint.” Tickets for the exhibition will go on sale Tuesday.   Source: AP

“Being bald is sexy. It’s an attitude. It’s a luxury. It’s a lifestyle.” That’s how Brennan Nevada Johnson introduces her video podcast, launched last November to celebrate the confidence and beauty of bald women. Fourteen years ago, Johnson voluntarily shaved her head — a decision that would reshape her life and perspective. For centuries, long hair has been regarded as a symbol of femininity, health and fertility. But a growing number of women are challenging that notion, redefining baldness as bold, beautiful and empowering. “Once you do it, it brings all this confidence into your life,” said Johnson, 34. “Whenever you see someone bald and not wearing a wig, know that they’ve fully embraced themselves — and that’s not easy to do.” Her initial decision was practical. As a college volleyball player, sweat often ruined her costly hair treatments. Once she shaved her head, she never looked back. “It’s such a fashion statement, and it’s a really powerful look,” said Johnson, now a New York-based public relations entrepreneur. Her podcast, Bald and Buzzed with Brennan, aims to create a space where bald women can feel affirmed and celebrated. Across the U.S., many women — whether bald by choice or due to health conditions — are finding solidarity through online communities, conferences and social media. Dash Lopez, a 29-year-old content creator, shaved her head during the pandemic after years of frustration with her hair. “It makes me feel powerful that I’m detaching from things people place so much emphasis on,” she said. Her online videos about bald beauty have reached millions. Lopez briefly enjoyed success in modeling, but said bookings declined when trends shifted. Still, she remains committed to embracing her look. “I’m doing it for my own self-empowerment and a deeper understanding of what beauty means to me.” For others, the journey began with illness. Atlanta flight attendant Felicia Flores lost her hair due to alopecia and initially wore wigs to hide it. Inspired by other bald women, she eventually embraced her look and later founded Baldie Con, an annual event celebrating bald beauty. In Philadelphia, nurse and weekend mechanic Aicha Soumaoro said going bald gave her “a new skin, a new layer, a new personality.” “Being bald is like a boost of confidence out of nowhere,” said Soumaoro, 27. “It feels amazing — like I was born again.” Atlanta performer Tiffany Michael Thomas, who goes by the stage name Amor Lauren, shaved her head in solidarity with her mother during cancer treatment. After her mother’s passing, she kept the look. “Once I embraced it, I felt unstoppable,” said Thomas, 37. “There’s nothing left to hide behind anymore.” Her message to women who hesitate? “Do it scared. The best way to overcome fear is to face it.”   Source: AP  

Victoria Beckham, once known to the world as “Posh Spice,” is stepping back into the spotlight — this time to tell her own story. In her new Netflix documentary, Victoria Beckham, the former pop star turned fashion designer opens up about her struggles, ambitions, and the journey from fame to credibility in the global fashion industry. Speaking to the Associated Press in New York, Beckham recalled her early insecurities. “At theater school, they put me in the back row because I was too heavy,” she said, sipping sparkling water between meetings. “We were all judged on how we looked. I was young, had bad skin, my weight went up and down, and I had really lank hair.” The three-part documentary traces her evolution from bullied student to pop sensation to respected designer. It culminates with her 2024 Paris runway show — a defining moment for Beckham, who spent years proving she was more than just a celebrity with a fashion label. The film also features her husband, football legend David Beckham, echoing the format of his own hit Netflix series Beckham. “I’ve been in the fashion industry for almost two decades but was defined by four years in the Spice Girls,” she said. “I’m proud of that time, but I’ve been fighting preconceptions ever since.” The documentary reveals that Beckham initially funded her own career — buying their first home and supporting herself — before David later invested in her fashion business. It also explores how her label nearly collapsed due to lavish spending, including £70,000 on office plants, before she restructured the company with investors’ help. “I’ve learned so much,” she said. “I know what I know, and I really know what I don’t know. We had to rethink everything to save the business, and I took that on the chin.” Now 51, Beckham says her brand has achieved stability. “Fashion is profitable on its own, which I’m proud of in this climate. Beauty is also doing incredibly well,” she said. “Now it’s about building the house I’ve always dreamed of.” Beckham admits she has long been misunderstood. “Before social media, the media told the story — and I always looked miserable in photos. The documentary lets me explain why.” While she speaks candidly about childhood insecurities and body image, she also credits the Spice Girls for giving her confidence. “They made me believe I could be funny, that I could be myself,” she said. Reflecting on her journey, Beckham said she hopes her story inspires others. “I’ve been told ‘no’ so many times. If my story gives anyone the confidence to follow their dreams, that’s reason enough to tell it.”   Source: AP

The European Commission has imposed fines totaling over 157 million euros (around $183 million) on luxury fashion brands Gucci, Chloé, and Loewe for anti-competitive practices that restricted independent retailers from setting prices for their products. The Commission said the brands’ resale price-fixing violated EU competition rules, harmed consumers, and would not be tolerated. “This decision sends a clear message to the fashion industry and beyond that unfair practices will not be accepted in Europe, and that fair competition and consumer protection apply equally to all,” said Commission Vice President Teresa Ribera on Tuesday. According to the Commission, the three brands limited retailers’ freedom to set prices for luxury clothing, leather goods, footwear, and accessories sold both in stores and online. Retailers were required to follow recommended retail prices, observe maximum discount limits, and schedule sales in line with the brands’ own channels. These practices reduced competition and took away retailers’ pricing independence, the Commission noted. Gucci and Loewe received reduced fines due to cooperation, with Gucci revealing additional violations. Gucci’s fine stands at nearly 120 million euros, Loewe’s at 18 million euros, and Chloé’s fine, reduced by 15%, totals nearly 20 million euros.

What was meant to be a simple cosmetic fix turned into a traumatic ordeal for Chennai-based makeup artist V Jayanthi, who lost both her earlobes after undergoing a so-called ‘herbal procedure’ at a local beauty parlour. The ordeal In March 2023, Jayanthi visited Abbe Herbal Beauty Parlour in Arumbakkam, run by Akilandeshwari, seeking a natural remedy to reduce the size of her stretched ear piercings. The treatment cost Rs 2,000 but resulted in far greater physical and emotional suffering. Shortly after applying the herbal paste, Jayanthi experienced a severe burning sensation. When she raised concerns, the staff reassured her that the reaction was normal and continued applying the mixture, wrapping her earlobes in plaster. Within days, the wounds emitted a foul odor, and weeks later, her earlobes were hanging by thin layers of tissue. Impact on life For Jayanthi, whose work revolves around aesthetics, the consequences extended beyond physical injury. She lost confidence in her professional life, struggled to face clients, and even her own children were unsettled by her altered appearance. Her social life and freedom to go out were severely affected. The dangerous agent Medical examination revealed a shocking truth. The ‘herbal mix’ contained trichloroacetic acid (TCA), a corrosive chemical commonly used in controlled medical-grade skin treatments. Improper or high-concentration use of TCA can cause severe burns, scarring, and tissue destruction — exactly what happened in Jayanthi’s case. By August 2023, surgeons at Apollo Hospitals, Vanagaram, had to remove both earlobes to prevent infection. Although plastic surgery was suggested, the parlour refused to cover the expenses, forcing Jayanthi to seek legal recourse. Legal outcome After reviewing medical reports, witness statements, and a police chargesheet filed under Section 338 of the IPC (causing grievous hurt), the consumer commission ruled in Jayanthi’s favor. The commission noted that the parlour acted without authority and employed unsafe, unscientific methods. It ordered the parlour to pay Rs 5 lakh in compensation within 60 days. A cautionary tale Jayanthi’s case highlights the dangers of unregulated cosmetic procedures marketed as ‘herbal’ or ‘natural’ solutions. Experts warn that many such treatments contain chemical agents in unsafe concentrations. Any procedure promising structural changes — including reduction of ear piercings, moles, or scars — should only be performed by licensed dermatologists or certified cosmetic surgeons. This incident serves as a stark warning to consumers to verify credentials and safety standards before undergoing cosmetic treatments. Source: Agency

Showmanship returned to Chanel on Monday. At Paris Fashion Week, its new designer Matthieu Blazy opened the season’s most anticipated debut beneath colossal celestial bodies — Saturn with its rings, a full solar system suspended above a jet-black and a mirror-bright runway — staking a claim for theater from the first second. Reflections mirrored the cosmos beneath the runway, while a front row constellation — Nicole Kidman, Marion Cotillard, Tilda Swinton, joined by Lauren Sanchez and Jeff Bezos — gazed upward. By night’s end, the room rose in a standing ovation. As Vogue's doyenne Anna Wintour has said, “fashion needs its showmen.” Chanel had one again. Heritage house Founded in 1910, Chanel reshaped women’s wardrobes by replacing corseted silhouettes with ease — jersey, trousers — and later codified a global idea of Parisian chic through the little black dress, pearls and the tweed suit. Under Karl Lagerfeld in the 1980s, it became the model for how a heritage house can be both historic and relentlessly modern, its runway spectacles influencing the industry far beyond Paris. That legacy made Blazy’s debut more than a change of designer, but a test of how a century-old, multi-billion dollar institution continues to speak to the world. The show capped a season dense with debuts: Pierpaolo Piccioli at Balenciaga, Louise Trotter at Bottega Veneta, Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez at Loewe and Dario Vitale at Versace. Yet Chanel’s moment felt singular for stakes and scale. By dialing down glitter, dialing up line, restoring theater and keeping the codes legible, Blazy positioned Chanel not as a museum of symbols but as a platform for them. Opening statement of androgyny The opener functioned as a manifesto: an androgynous, slouchy pantsuit featuring low-slung trousers and an asymmetric jacket with structured shoulders. The looks split from the playbook of subdued designer Virginie Viard who parted ways with Chanel last year. They also shifted from late-period Karl Lagerfeld — one step closer to Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel. The styles were not a reinvention of tweed, but rather menswear rethought through the founder’s origin story, when Coco wore the clothes of her lover the “Boy” Capel. A hand anchored in a pocket made the point explicit: the freedom Chanel once placed in women’s hands — giving them trousers and pockets on them — restated. The spring 2026 collection, months in the making, read as an imagined conversation between Blazy and Chanel herself: thoughtfulness braided with showmanship. Codes, humor and the Lagerfeld lens Ribbons — rumored to be a sticking point between designer and atelier — were largely gone. Sparkle was sparse, a calculated risk in markets that prize high shine. In their place came silhouette-first solutions and masses of feathers, with the camellia held as steady leitmotif. However far the line moved, the codes stayed legible — each look unmistakably Chanel. Tweed arrived interconnected rather than narrowly Parisienne — multicultural in palette and weave, intercontinental if not interplanetary. Then came the fun wigs — what one critic termed the “funny little hats” — feathered, sly and intentionally light. They channeled Lagerfeld’s provocation about how he revitalized the once-dusty heritage house when he joined the helm in 1983. “Chanel is an institution, and you have to treat an institution like a (prostitute) — and then you get something out of her," he said. While Viard’s Chanel was often faulted for sobriety and restraint; Blazy, like Lagerfeld, deals in irony. At Bottega Veneta he staged frogs on heels, bunny-lapel coats and trompe-l’œil leather jeans. Here, plumage, proportion and wigs delivered the wink without tipping into theatrical costume. Accessories set a new tempo: big hats, metallic bags, tiers of pearls, chunky gold chains and statement earrings — bold on paper, disciplined on the body. Handbags — the other reason Blazy was chosen — spanned crisp chain-strap updates and playful clutches, including a notable ovoid shaped like an egg. The finale carried the argument in motion: a silky short-sleeve shirt paired with a multicolored feathered skirt with a long train. Color moved across the plumage and the black floor threw back its reflection. “It was such a surprise. ... It’s exciting to be here for a new era," filmmaker Sofia Coppola told The Associated Press. “There are things you recognize from the house codes, and a fresh new look at it.”

Chemena Kamali brought a poetic burst of florals to the Paris Fashion Week runway on Sunday, presenting a Chloé collection that celebrated focus, femininity, and flow — true to the house’s storied spirit. In her third tenure at Chloé, Kamali drew from the label’s rich legacy, blending romantic silhouettes with structured ease. Founded in 1952 by Gaby Aghion, Chloé revolutionized Parisian ready-to-wear with its free, feminine style — an ethos Kamali continues to nurture. Stella Jean returns to Milan runway with Bhutanese artisans, urges preservation of craftsmanship The show opened with soft prints and widened into pearlized yellows, layered coats, and knotted skirts. Pastel drapes, ruched gowns, and ’80s-inspired shoulders defined confidence and movement, while dropped hems and fluid tailoring evoked Karl Lagerfeld’s 1970s designs. Balancing nostalgia with modern clarity, Kamali’s Chloé radiated “romance with discipline” — clothes that evolve naturally, made by women, for women. Source: AP