There were celebrities from overseas, like Anne Hathaway and Liz Hurley. There were colleagues in couture, like Donatella Versace and Tom Ford. And there were journalists, like Anna Wintour and Suzy Menkes, who had chronicled their world.
The elite of fashion and entertainment assembled in Rome on Friday to pay their last respects to the designer Valentino Garavani, who died on Monday at 93 and whose six-decade career concocted some of the most memorable clothes of the 20th century. They were joined by crowds of Romans — both well-heeled and sneakered — who gathered to mourn a man whose life story, since his arrival in Rome in 1959, had become entwined with that of his adopted city.
Hundreds gathered in and outside the cavernous brick walls of the Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels and Martyrs, one of Rome’s most storied churches, which Michelangelo fashioned out of a ruined Roman bath complex in the 16th century.
Most were dressed in black, punctuated here and there by an interloper in red, the color that became a trademark of the Valentino fashion empire. Some who could not attend the funeral sent large wreaths, like the actress Sophia Loren, whose offering bore the message: “Always in my heart.”
It was a fitting setting for a solemn funeral that repeatedly touched on the theme of beauty, the driving force of a career in which Mr. Garavani designed dresses for celebrities including Jacqueline Kennedy, Elizabeth Taylor and Julia Roberts.
At the start of the funeral, the Rev. Pietro Guerini described Mr. Garavani — who was known to many simply by his first name — as a “seeker of beauty, creator of beauty.”
“We want to thank Maestro Valentino for the treasure of beauty he has given to individuals and to humanity as a whole,” Father Guerini said. “We thank him for the many gifts of beauty he has created, bringing happiness in this way.”
Earlier this week, the windows of the flagship Maison Valentino store in downtown Rome were obscured by black panels decorated with one of Mr. Garavani’s most famous comments: “I love beauty. It’s not my fault.”
The funeral ended with a few brief words by Mr. Garavani’s two closest allies — Giancarlo Giammetti, his lifelong business partner, and Bruce Hoeksema, his companion since 1982.
Mr. Giammetti said he had learned to appreciate beauty through his relationship with Mr. Garavani. “Through him I understood what it meant,” Mr. Giammetti said. “It was a beauty,” he added, “that followed us throughout our lives, that accompanied us.”
Choking with emotion, Mr. Hoeksema said: “I don’t say goodbye today, I say thank you. For choosing me, for walking with me, and for leaving me changed forever.”
After the funeral, the mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri, grieved a man whose work became synonymous with the city.
“Valentino embodied the beauty of Rome, he knew how to project the lights and colors of our city’s heritage onto the world stage,” Mr. Gualtieri said, pledging that the city would honor the designer, “as he deserves to be remembered, because he is a symbol of beauty and of our city.”
Writing this week in Il Messaggero, Rome’s local newspaper, Mario Ajello — a veteran chronicler of all things Roman — recalled that Mr. Garavani once said “I don’t work in Rome, I am Rome.” It was a testament, Mr. Ajello wrote, to the designer’s spiritual and artistic connection to the city — he was “a Roman prince who cared about Rome’s global image and did so much to promote it,” staging shows and celebrations in the city’s iconic locations. His clothes, like the city, captured an “eternal formality.”
Highlighting Mr. Garavani’s popularity, some 10,000 people patiently queued in line at a wake held Wednesday and Thursday in a wing of the palazzo that houses the Maison Valentino headquarters.
The wake drew both the few who could afford to wear Mr. Garavani’s creations — some of which cost tens of thousands of dollars — and the many who could only aspire to buy one. Gabriella Camicia, 85, came to pay homage to a designer whose rise to fame coincided with her youth and the glamorous world of Rome in the 1960s. “For us, it was unthinkable that we could afford such clothes, but even dreams can give a boost to life,” Ms. Camicia said. “Just seeing them gave us so much joy.”
As Mr. Garavani’s coffin moved along the nave of the basilica, the mourners burst into loud applause. Then the coffin was taken for burial in Rome’s Prima Porta cemetery.
“He was a leader of an era of fashion and that’s what makes him so exceptional, and why there are so many people who have crossed continents to come today,” said Ms. Menkes, who spent a quarter century writing about fashion for The International Herald Tribune.
“It wasn’t just about him making clothes, he also built relationships with his clients,” Ms. Menkes added.
“They loved the clothes, they loved him, and he loved them. I really can’t think of another designer who could take over if we think of it like that,” she said. “The era is over.”
Elisabetta Povoledo is a Times reporter based in Rome, covering Italy, the Vatican and the culture of the region. She has been a journalist for 35 years.
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