The Brief

After a contentious summer of 2020 for the Magic Castle, Carly Usdin felt like they’d started to find their footing at the club again: They found a community of progressive members and was excited to apply for the Diversity and Inclusion Committee.

So when Carly got an emailed grievance claiming that their online criticism of Castle leadership and the environment, combined with “their obvious hate,” were grounds for removal, they wanted to fight back.

Carly Usdin in 2023.

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Part 3:  Carly Usdin is at risk of getting kicked out of the Magic Castle. Plus, after 2020, the Magic Castle makes changes to address issues of inclusion, including setting up a Diversity and Inclusion Committee. LAist Senior Producer Natalie Chudnovsky explores how the Castle’s promises to do better pan out, several years later. 

The Castle: Part 3

Part 3:  Carly Usdin is at risk of getting kicked out of the Magic Castle. Plus, after 2020, the Magic Castle makes changes to address issues of inclusion, including setting up a Diversity and Inclusion Committee. LAist Senior Producer Natalie Chudnovsky explores how the Castle’s promises to do better pan out, several years later. 

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The grievance process at the Castle is simple. For $50, any member can file a grievance against another. If the Grievance and Ethics Committee finds the grievance valid, the $50 is returned to the member. If the grievance is found invalid, their money is lost.

“I'm a stubborn person,” says Carly. “And when it comes to matters like this, I can be petty. I wanted nothing more than for them to lose $50.”

Carly spent the next month preparing for their hearing, taking screenshots of the different relevant social media posts and writing out responses to each grievance point in a 12-page document. Their argument rested on the idea that pointing out the flaws of an institution didn’t mean that you hated it — quite the opposite.

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“If you don’t do everything in your power to change the things you love to make them better, then how can you actually love those things?” Carly wrote in their response document. “So long as I am a member, I am committed to making the AMA [Academy of Magical Arts] and the Castle a place where all are welcome and all feel welcome.”

In Carly’s recollection, there were a dozen people at their hearing. It took place on Zoom, because it was still the thick of the pandemic. After an introduction, one of the members who filed the grievance spoke, and then it was Carly’s turn to state their case. In some ways, it was a moment that mirrored their Castle audition — a tricky performance for established magicians who would decide Carly’s fate. And once again, Carly walked away unsure whether they’d been deemed worthy.

The decisions: the Castle’s and Carly’s 

In December 2020, Carly got the phone call from the grievance committee and was told they could remain a member.

But they’d also gotten another piece of news from the Castle. Carly would not be included in the Diversity and Inclusion Committee, the committee they were most excited about seeing to fruition at the Castle.

Carly was satisfied they’d defeated the members who’d filed the grievance — the two men wouldn’t get their $50 back. But Carly was no longer interested in remaining a member of the Castle.

“The only thing that was gonna keep me in,” Carly says, “was if I knew I had a place to be heard. My pettiness was satisfied … those guys didn't get me kicked out, but now I'm going to leave.”

At the beginning of 2021, Carly chose not to pay the annual dues, effectively ending their Castle membership.

For Carly, the loss of the membership, and all the magic, hope and community that it represented, hit hard. But in some ways, it was also a relief.

“I don't have to have that ethical conflict of, ‘Why am I supporting this place?’” says Carly. “And like, sure, this is a place for magic. This is not a place for politics. But also, any space I enter, the people there, and me, we all have to reckon with who I'm perceived as, who I am. And the thing that became very clear to me over the last few years is that I won't go along with anything anymore.”

Another controversy for the Castle

 
In December 2020, the L.A. Times published an explosive investigation into allegations of sexism and racism at the Magic Castle.

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L.A. Times reporters spoke with 12 people — staff, members and guests — about their experiences. One woman guest described how she was called up to the stage by a performer who tried to touch her chest during his trick. A former cook said racial epithets were common in the kitchen.

One waitress alleged she was sexually harassed and then fired when she reported it to management.

Kayla Drescher, Carly’s friend and professional magician, was quoted in the piece, too, describing one infamous staircase where if you sat underneath, at the bar, you could see up someone’s skirt.

After a long summer of internal tensions and social media call-outs, it was a big deal for the Castle to receive bad press from L.A.’s biggest paper, and for its own members to share the secretive institution’s dirty laundry.

The Castle did take some corrective action after the L.A. Times article. They sent us a long list, which included an internal review, the hiring of a new general manager, the creation of a new human resources director position and a sensitivity and sexual harassment training for the board of directors, trustees and staff. The infamous staircase got some slats installed. One controversial painting was removed.

And then in May 2021, after more than a year of being closed for COVID, the Castle reopened.

The Diversity and Inclusion Committee

The Castle told us that of the 30 people interested in the Diversity and Inclusion Committee, 20 were interviewed by the board and ultimately nine selected, including Kayla Drescher.

Kayla Drescher performing magic.

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Kayla said that in the first year of the D&I Committee’s existence, she pushed through one victory: making the dress code gender-neutral.

“I personally rewrote the dress code,” Kayla says. “So men can wear dresses and skirts, women can wear pants and suits. And if you’re neither of those things, you can wear whatever the hell you want.”

Kayla says that otherwise, the first year was rough going. A lot of time was spent trying to convince other members of the committee that there were problems, she said, and ideas seemed to go nowhere.

“It just felt like we were banging our head up against the wall for nothing,” Kayla says.

Then in 2022, internal elections led to a shakeup in leadership and Kayla became the new head of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee. It was a moment when she thought she could turn things around, and she started by inviting new people to join, including magician Paul Draper.

Draper recalled that in its second year, the committee was working to define itself and prioritize which goals to bring up to the board. Kayla says she felt good about the new iteration of the committee, but when it came time to take action, they ran into a wall.

The problem, according to both Kayla and Paul, was that the D&I Committee didn’t have any real power. It was set up as an advisory committee, presenting recommendations to the people actually in charge of the Castle, the board of directors.

“And so it very quickly became, ‘Well the fire from the L.A. Times article has died down, do we really need to do any of this?’” Kayla says.

LAist tried contacting all the members of the Castle’s 2022 D&I Committee. Besides Paul and Kayla, no one wanted to speak on the record.

We also asked the Castle’s general manager, Hervé Lévy, who joined in 2021, about these issues.

Unlike the folks on the Diversity and Inclusion Committee, Lévy is a paid employee of the Castle. He says he’s been working to create a better culture there, as well as clearer systems for people to report incidents. He is also openly gay and says that he felt embraced by the Castle right away.

When we asked why the D&I Committee’s recommendations were not implemented, Hervé said that the committee's vision lacked clarity.

“It was not presented the right way,” says Hervé. “So yes, they were turned down because the ideas weren’t that great. And you know what? You don't wanna implement bad ideas.”

When we asked which ideas he felt needed improvement, Hervé could not immediately provide an example.

The brick wall

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LAist was provided a list of priorities the D&I Committee drafted for the Castle’s board of directors in August 2022. Recommendations included the implementation of a DEI calendar, as well as goals for the future, like including more information about a more diverse array of magicians in its building tours.

One of the D&I Committee’s recommendations was that booked performers be required to take a training — according to Kayla, she wanted to require the same sensitivity and sexual harassment trainings that staff received. The document’s stated reason for the training is because “there have been many reports or issues surrounding sensitivity from magicians performing all over the Castle,” and also suggests an implementation plan.

Magician performers at the Castle are booked a week at a time, and are often coming from all over the country to perform in the space. Kayla felt that this kind of training was important to get different performers on the same page about appropriate language and interactions.

She felt this would help prevent problematic patter, sexual harassment and other incidents like the ones reported on in the L.A. Times, and that happened to her and Carly at the Castle.

Kayla was also going to get a rare chance to make a presentation to the Board of Directors in the fall of 2022 — but she and another D&I Committee member would get exactly 20 minutes, so she decided to focus on a few concrete recommendations, including the one about harassment and sensitivity training.

When she presented to the board, Kayla says she immediately felt dismissed. Following that presentation, Kayla decided not to renew her Magic Castle membership.

“Every time something happens, whether it be at the Magic Castle or in the industry, a layer of a brick gets put down, and for now you can just easily step over that layer of brick,” says Kayla of the prejudices she’s faced in the magic world. “And eventually the layers get taller and taller. You have to climb over it, or somebody has to help you. But eventually the wall gets so big, it's just not worth your time. And that is what happened with me and my Castle membership.”

When we asked Lévy about the training recommendation, he initially said that it would be “very complicated to do training for someone’s who’s here for only a week,” and that instead the Castle has a phone call with performers about language and not touching guests — not a “formal training,” but “setting expectations.”

General Manager/COO of the Magic Castle Hervé Lévy in the Magic Castle, on Oct. 13, 2021.

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When we asked in March 2023 whether Hervé would want to implement a formal training, he said he would and that it’s “definitely coming.”

When we checked in October 2023, the Castle told us they still hadn’t implemented a training for booked performers, but were working to roll out a training in January 2024. They also said they did not intend to require training for members. A Castle rep said that policies about appropriate behavior are “clearly defined” for members when they join and “reiterated from time-to-time in internal communications.”

Still on the D&I Committee

The last time we talked to Paul Draper in March 2023, he was still on the D&I Committee.

He said it was still slow going. For example, the committee wanted to get a spot in the monthly emailed newsletter, so they could tell other members about their work and highlight lesser-known magicians.

The first article was just going to be an introduction. He said it took 10 months of meetings, revisions and back-and-forths before the introduction was included in the emailed newsletter.

When we brought up the pace of change to Hervé, he said changes happen slowly in order to account for everyone’s opinions.

“So yes,” he said, “it's gonna be slow process, but we need to do it right.”

We asked to interview the new head of the D&I committee who replaced Kayla, but he declined.

We checked in with the Castle one last time in October 2023 to see if any new D&I Committee recommendations had been implemented. They had none to report.

A different perspective on the Castle 

While we spoke off the record to other former Castle members whose experiences of the Castle were similar to Kayla and Carly’s, we also spoke with several members whose interactions with the Castle were overwhelmingly positive and who felt that the Castle did make meaningful changes after 2020.

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Georgia Lyle is one of those members. Georgia is a retired physics teacher, magician and a trans woman. Like Carly, she initially came to magic by way of the Castle, when her friend invited her for a night out at the club.

Georgia was in her 50s and exploring her gender identity and starting to experiment with feminine gender expression. She still remembers what she wore that first night at the Castle — a silver dress that went just below the knee.

“I was very self-conscious,” says Georgia. “I would go to a showroom and I would very intentionally go to the back row because I didn't want to get called upon. And the thing that struck me was that at the Castle, everybody was very nice. Everybody treated me really well and nobody made a fuss over me.”

Georgia started going to the Castle more frequently, eventually taking lessons and finally passing her audition and becoming a member. The membership card held special significance, because it was her first piece of ID with her correct name.

Georgia is actively involved at the Castle now, performing, teaching and giving tours. And for Georgia, the Castle is a place of acceptance.

“I find that I have never been treated badly in the club,” says Georgia. “My feeling as a trans woman is that the club provided me the experience that I wanted, which was basically the ability to be myself. And I'm respected because of the things I do. I'm respected because I do magic.”

After the summer of 2020, Georgia felt that the Castle owned up to its issues. So did magician and mentalist Michael Gutenplan.

“I personally have never had problems with homophobia or being discriminated against because I'm gay in the magic world,” says Michael. “But I think the older members of our magic world sometimes need a reminder that the world has changed … I feel that there are people that want the world to instantly change for their benefits, and I wish it would, but the truth is, change takes time.”

When asked about other members’ experiences of sexism and racism, both Georgia and Michael said that they hadn’t personally had bad experiences at the club. During the summer of 2020, on that members-only Facebook group, there were other members who offered their experiences as counterpoints to members who said they’d had problematic ones.

We asked Hervé how he thought about how to prioritize feedback — how to take the bad experiences of the few seriously. He said that he takes everyone’s experiences very seriously.

We also asked Georgia about how she grappled with how Carly’s experience was so different from her own.

“That is a dilemma,” she says. “Because you know, I have my perspective, but it's the perspective of somebody who's older and I'm imposing, so I think there's a lot of people who would not do things with me that they might do with somebody who's younger and more attractive,” says Georgia. “I think most people who are or were members of the Magic Castle had a fairly major investment in becoming a member. You don't do it lightly. So if they are feeling uncomfortable, that definitely needs examination.”

Kayla and Carly today

Carly Usdin in 2023, with all their decks of cards.

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Kayla Drescher moved to Chicago and now performs at the Chicago Magic Lounge.

“There are posted signs everywhere that tell you what to do if you wanna report bad behavior,” says Kayla of her new performance space. “There's a team meeting every single day that reminds people to use non-binary gender inclusive language as a performer … then when something does happen, like we had a drunk guest who got a little bit handsy, and that guest was asked to leave.”

Kayla says she’s found a different, more progressive magic community, elsewhere.

Carly Usdin’s suitcase of magic stuff.

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Meanwhile, it’s been three years since Carly left the Castle. And even longer since they’ve done any magic tricks.

During the last interview for this story, in their home, Carly pulled out dusty boxes of magic materials: pieces of rope, sponge rabbits, white handkerchiefs, books on magic and over two dozen different decks of cards.

Carly said that enough time had passed between them and their Castle days that they mostly just felt nostalgic.

“I miss doing this a little bit,” says Carly, as they glance at the cards. “When I go to put all this away later, I'll maybe leave one deck out.”

This is a digital companion piece to Imperfect Paradise: The Castle. To listen to the audio version of this episode, click here. 

President Trump once insisted he had "nothing to do with Project 2025," the right-wing policy plan that became a key flashpoint during the presidential campaign.

The Democrats tried to turn the 900-page Heritage Foundation-led blueprint to remake the government into a political boogeyman, and succeeded to some degree, but it wasn't enough to win the election.

A year later, many of the policies have been implemented, from cracking down on immigration to dismantling the Department of Education.

"A lot of the policies from Day 1 to the last day and in between that the administration has adopted are right out of Project 2025," said Rob Bonta, the attorney general of California, who has used Project 2025 to prepare legal papers against the administration.

Concerns about the project started to bubble up over the spring of 2024, but really caught fire a few months later when actress Taraji P. Henson singled out Project 2025 while hosting the BET awards.

"Pay attention. It's not a secret. Look it up!" she said, speaking directly into the camera during the show. "They are attacking our most vulnerable citizens. The Project 2025 plan is not a game."

'Ridiculous'

Then-candidate Trump tried to dismiss the hysteria, calling the ideas "ridiculous" — and claiming he did not know who was behind it — even though key people involved in developing the plans served in his first administration.
And when it was clear the firestorm would not go away, Trump went on the attack against those allies who wrote the playbook.

"They're a pain in the a--," said Chris LaCivita, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, who tore into the organizers of Project 2025 at an event hosted by CNN and Politico during the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

"Look, I think that in the perfect world, from their perspective, they would love to drive the issue set, but they don't get to do that," he added.

Yet days after winning, Trump tapped Russell Vought, an architect of Project 2025, to lead the Office of Management and Budget — considered the nerve center of the White House. Other contributors followed.
Trump soon unleashed a flurry of orders reshaping the government, many of which were outlined in Project 2025.

"As of today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female," he said during his inaugural address.

Trump ended diversity, equity and inclusion programs. He launched massive immigration enforcement and took the first steps to overhaul the federal workforce.

Bonta, the attorney general of California, said Project 2025 defined Trump's first year back in office. The country's 23 Democratic attorneys general studied Project 2025, consulted with each other and, he said, prepared a response for every potential action should it be taken.

"The existence of Project 2025 was the Trump administration telling us exactly what they were going to do and sending it to us in writing," Bonta said.

Bonta has filed or joined lawsuits that have successfully blocked Trump's policies requiring states like California to join his immigration crackdown, freeze of domestic federal funding and layoffs at agencies such as the U.S. Department of Education.

The White House dismissed concerns about Project 2025, calling them irrelevant theories from Beltway insiders.

"President Trump is implementing the agenda he campaigned on and that the American people voted for," said Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman.

Jackson said the president focused on implementing the agenda he campaigned on — lowering gas prices, accelerating economic growth and securing the border.

Fueling controversy

Trump may have actually fueled the controversy by rejecting Project 2025 during the campaign, said Tevi Troy, a presidential historian and former White House aide to George W. Bush.

"I would say that Project 2025 was largely standard conservative fare, but with a bit more of a MAGA flavor than previously."

Troy sees little difference between what the Heritage Foundation did with Project 2025 and what think tanks on the left and right have been doing for years compiling policy proposals for incoming presidents.

He pointed to the personnel and policy ideas of the Hoover Institution that helped shape the George W. Bush administration and the Center for American Progress' influence on the Obama administration.

"If the Trump campaign had leaned into it and said, 'sure, this is an agenda that has been put out as a think tank. This happens all the time. We will look at them in due time when the election is over,' " said Troy. "By criticizing and disavowing Project 2025, it suddenly became more radioactive."

Paul Dans, the director of Project 2025, says he never took the attacks personally, which he chalked up to political calculus. 

He likened watching the president sign executive orders and directives that first came across his desk to being an animator who watches his or her sketchbook come to life on the big screen.

"I believe the proof is in the pudding," said Dans, who also served in the first Trump administration. "Every day that President Trump rolls out another Project 2025 item, it's really an endorsement of our work, myself and the work of thousands of patriots who came together."

Dans is now highlighting that work in a run for the Senate, against Trump-ally, Republican Lindsey Graham.

Trump did eventually embrace Project 2025 during the shutdown fight last fall.

He boasted of meeting with "Russ Vought, he of PROJECT 2025 Fame," while threatening to dismantle federal agencies.

"I can't believe the Radical Left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity," he said.

Copyright 2026 NPR

President Trump says his controversial push for U.S. control of Greenland comes after he failed to win the Nobel Peace Prize last year, adding he no longer feels obliged to think only of peace.

In a message to Norway's prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre on Sunday night, Trump criticized the European country for not giving him the prize.

"Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America," Trump said in the message.

"The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland," Trump added.

The message was reported by PBS NewsHour, and was later confirmed by Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre in a statement.

Gahr Støre said he received the message on Sunday in response to a text he and Finland's President Alexander Stubb had sent to Trump, in which they had conveyed opposition to Trump's proposed tariff increases on eight European countries over the recent Greenland dispute.

In their message to Trump, according to The New York Times, which received a copy of the exchange from the Norwegian prime minister's office, Gahr Støre and Stubb wrote: "We believe we all should work to take this down and de-escalate — so much is happening around us where we need to stand together."

The pair suggested a joint call.

"Norway's position on Greenland is clear. Greenland is a part of the Kingdom of Denmark, and Norway fully supports the Kingdom of Denmark on this matter," Gahr Støre said. "We also support that NATO in a responsible way is taking steps to strengthen security and stability in the Arctic."

Gahr Støre also pointed out that while President Trump claimed that Norway "decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize," the government of Norway is not responsible for the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize. The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded by a five member Norwegian Nobel Committee since 1901.

The Danish navy's inspection ship HDMS Vaedderen sails off Nuuk, Greenland, on Sunday.

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The Peace Prize, which was last awarded to Venezuela's opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, is also awarded for the previous year. That means the most recent prize was awarded for 2024, before President Trump commenced his second term of office. Machado gave Trump her prize last week as a symbolic thank you for his recent actions in Venezuela.

In a phone interview with NBC News on Monday, Trump again claimed that the Norwegian government has control over the Nobel Peace Prize. "Norway totally controls it despite what they say," he said. Trump also said he would follow through on his threats to impose further tariffs. When asked whether he would use force to seize Greenland, the president replied: "No comment."

The European Union is set to hold an emergency summit on Thursday, in which attendees will discuss how to respond to the threats. In a statement on social media, the EU's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the bloc had "no interest to pick a fight" but would "hold our ground."

Trump's message to Gahr Støre comes as tensions rise between Europe and the United States over the status of Greenland, an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark that is strategically important and rich in resources.

On Monday, the World Economic Forum said officials from Denmark would not be attending the meeting in Davos, Switzerland, this week. "We can confirm that the Danish government will not be represented in Davos this week," a spokesperson, Alem Tedeneke, told NPR.

On Sunday, in a collective rebuke to President Trump, the leaders of Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom issued a joint statement condemning recent U.S. tariff threats. The eight countries, which are all members of NATO, said that Trump's proposed tariffs "undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral."

On Saturday night, President Trump had written on his Truth Social social media platform that he would impose tariffs on imports from the countries, after they had deployed limited military personnel to Greenland to participate in a Danish-led Arctic exercise known as 'Arctic Endurance.'

Trump said America would levy a 10% tariff on goods from the eight countries starting on Feb. 1, which would rise to 25% on June 1, and remain in place "until such time as a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland" by the United States.

The open dispute comes after weeks of increasingly assertive U.S. rhetoric regarding Greenland, in which Trump has repeatedly said that Greenland is strategically vital to U.S. national security, citing its location and untapped mineral deposits.

In his text message, Trump questioned Denmark's right to claim Greenland. "Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China, and why do they have a 'right of ownership' anyway? There are no written documents, it's only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago, but we had boats landing there, also," Trump said.

Trump made similar comments last week, saying "the fact that they had a boat land there 500 years ago doesn't mean that they own the land," drawing mirth on social media, with comedians like Jon Stewart noting on The Daily Show "how do you think we got our land?"

Copyright 2026 NPR

The Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday weekend is typically busy for the Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles. On Monday, the orchestra finished its third performance of the weekend at the California African American Museum, which included a musical rendition of the civil rights leader’s seminal “I Have a Dream Speech.”

It was flautist Tionna LeSassier’s first time playing with the orchestra on the federal holiday. Tionna said she began playing flute when she was 12.

“I feel really relieved that I was able to accomplish such a big performance for a really big holiday,” Tionna, who has been playing flute for more than two years, said. “I cannot believe I’m here playing with these amazing musicians.”

The orchestra’s performance, which included pieces like “We Shall Overcome” and the “Afro-American Symphony,” capped off the museum’s annual “King Day” celebration.

The event is held on the federal holiday that honors the legacy of the Baptist preacher whose nonviolent protests and eloquent speeches helped shift American attitudes about race in the 1960s and beyond and lead to landmark Civil Rights legislation.

Earlier in the day, museumgoers listened to and reflected on a recording by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. from 1967. Nearly 60 years later, event participants said, the words still feel fresh.

“When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, economic exploitation and militarism are incapable of being conquered,” King said in “The Three Evils of Society,” his keynote address at the National Conference on New Politics in Chicago.

Cameron Shaw, executive director of the Exposition Park museum, told LAist on Monday that the speech has “incredible relevance to the political and social moment and what we’re going through as a people today.”

In a brief discussion after the speech, one attendee spoke about the need to interrogate racism as a systematic ill, not just as one-off acts, and another commented on the importance of standing up to injustice.

Shaw says the museum’s celebration on Martin Luther King Jr. Day has evolved over the last several years, but one of the main throughlines she sees is the continued message of “speaking truth to power.”

“When we celebrate Dr. King today, we celebrate all of the folks past and present who have been brave enough to speak truth to power,” Shaw said. “That is something we truly need.”

Monday’s event also featured a faux stained glass workshop inspired by an exhibition the museum has on display about architect Amaza Lee Meredith.

The museum’s King Day event was one of several celebrating the Civil Rights leader this weekend in L.A.

In South L.A., an annual parade drew thousands of people, with a march concluding in Leimert Park. "It was a wonderful and powerful tribute to Dr. King’s memory to march down MLK Boulevard alongside so many friends and community members in the historic Leimert Park neighborhood," L.A. Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement.

A report of a stabbing marred the end of the event. Bass' statement said city officials were investigating and ensuring people got home safe. She added that "Los Angeles has zero tolerance for this type of violence."

Italian fashion designer Valentino died Monday at his Roman residence. He was 93. His foundation announced his death on Instagram.

Dubbed an "international arbiter of taste" by Vogue, notable women wore his designs at funerals and weddings, as well as on the red carpet. He dressed the likes of Audrey Hepburn and Jackie Onassis, as well as modern stars, including Anna Wintour to Gwyneth Paltrow and Zendaya.

The image of style and lavish living, Valentino's signature features included crisp suits and a "crème brûlée" complexion — due to his fervor for tanning. He was heavily inspired by the stars he saw on the silver screen and had a lifelong fixation with glamour.

"I love a beautiful lady. I love a beautiful dog. I love a beautiful piece of furniture. I love beauty. It's not my fault," he said in The Last Emperor, a 2008 documentary about him.

In the world of haute couture, Valentino embraced sophistication, elegance and traditional femininity through his dresses and trademarked a vibrant red hue. His work embodied romance, luxury and an aristocratic lifestyle.

He was born Valentino Garavani and named after the silent movie star Rudolph Valentino. A self-described spoiled child, the designer acquired a taste for the expensive from a young age; his shoes were custom-made, and the stripe, color and buttons of his blazers were designed to his specifications.

His father, a well-to-do electrical supplier, and his mother, who appreciated the value of a well-made garment, catered to their young son's refined palate and later supported his fashion endeavors, sending him to school and financing his early work.

Growing up in the small town of Voghera, Italy, he learned sewing from his Aunt Rosa in Lombardy. After high school, he moved to Paris to study fashion and take on apprenticeships.

Valentino owed much of his success to his former lover and business partner, Giancarlo Giammetti. The two met in a café on the famed Via Condotti in Rome in 1960, where Valentino had opened his first couture studio.

They founded Valentino Company the same year, and its first ready-to-wear shop opened in Milan in 1969. Together, the pair built a fashion empire over five decades.

They separated romantically when Valentino was 30 but remained business partners and close friends. Valentino knew little about business and accounting before meeting Giammetti; together, they formed two parts of a whole — Giammetti the business mind, and Valentino the creative force.

"Valentino has a perfect vision of how a woman should dress," Giammetti told Charlie Rose in 2009. "He looks for beauty. Women should be more beautiful. His work is to make women more beautiful."

They sold the Valentino company in 1998 for nearly $300 million. It made $1.36 billion in revenue in 2021, according to Reuters.

Even after his retirement in 2008, he couldn't completely leave fashion behind and continued to design dresses for opera productions.

Once the fashion world became more accessible to the public, millions of aspiring fashionistas bought jeans, handbags, shoes, umbrellas and even Lincoln Continentals with his gleaming "V" monogram. By the peak of his career, Valentino's popularity would rival that of the pope's in Rome.

Copyright 2026 NPR