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Valentino Garavani, the couturier who ruled glamour, bows out at 93

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ROME: Rome did not wake up quietly on Monday. Valentino Garavani, the man who made elegance a discipline and glamour a calling, has died at 93, drawing the final line under haute couture’s most gilded chapter. In an industry addicted to reinvention, Valentino never chased change. He commanded it, in silk, satin and an unmistakable shade of red.

Born in Voghera in 1932, Valentino trained in Paris under Jean Dessès and Guy Laroche before returning to Italy to launch his fashion house in Rome in 1960. It was a deliberate homecoming. Paris taught him technique, but Rome gave him mythology. What followed was not merely a label but a worldview, rooted in discipline, drama and unapologetic beauty.

The house took flight after Valentino met Giancarlo Giammetti, then an architecture student. Their partnership became one of fashion’s most durable alliances. Valentino shaped the dream. Giammetti built the machine. Together, they turned an atelier on Via Condotti into a global luxury empire synonymous with Italian refinement and jet-set excess.

r Valentino met Giancarlo Giammetti

Valentino’s visual language was defiantly romantic. While fashion flirted with grunge, minimalism and irony, he doubled down on craftsmanship, bows, embroidery and gowns engineered to command rooms. At the centre of it all was Rosso Valentino, a vivid, operatic red that became his signature and a permanent fixture on runways and red carpets.

Yet restraint was also part of his arsenal. His 1968 White Collection, entirely devoid of colour, announced his mastery just as loudly. It also caught the attention of Jacqueline Kennedy, who commissioned Valentino to dress her for her wedding to Aristotle Onassis. The moment sealed his place as couturier to power and poise.

Valentino dressed not trends but women who shaped eras. Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, Sophia Loren, Marella Agnelli and Princess Margaret wore his creations as armour. Later generations followed. Julia Roberts’ black-and-white Valentino gown at the 2001 Oscars became a red-carpet benchmark. Anne Hathaway, Jennifer Lopez, Lady Gaga and Zendaya turned to the house when impact mattered.

The business grew alongside the myth. Valentino SpA expanded into ready-to-wear, accessories, footwear and fragrances, becoming a global luxury name. The company was sold in 1998 and later passed to Mayhoola for Investments, but Valentino remained creatively dominant until his retirement.

His final couture show in Paris in 2008 was staged as theatre. Models emerged one after another in identical red gowns before Valentino took his last bow. It was not nostalgia. It was control.

The fashion world paid tribute. Gucci said on X: “We at Gucci are deeply sorry to hear of the passing of Valentino Garavani, a pioneering couturier and an icon of Italian fashion.” Donatella Versace called him “a true maestro who will forever be remembered for his art.” Cindy Crawford described him as a “master of his craft,” Gwyneth Paltrow said his passing felt like “the end of an era,” Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni hailed him as “an undisputed master of style and elegance and eternal symbol of Italian haute couture,” and Maison Valentino posted: “His unique style and innate elegance will remain forever… His life was a beacon in the ceaseless pursuit of beauty, and guided by that same beauty, we will continue to honor his memory with our deepest devotion.” Ralph Lauren added: “We all knew him by his first name—Valentino, a romantic name he lived up to through the artfulness of the collections he designed and the passion for beauty that inspired him for so many decades… His memory will live on through the timeless beauty of the world he created.”

Valentino

In an industry now driven by speed and spectacle, Valentino’s legacy feels almost subversive. He believed elegance could be permanent, beauty could be exacting and fashion could still aspire to grandeur.

The emperor has left the building. The red remains.

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Delhivery chairman Deepak Kapoor, independent director Saugata Gupta quit board

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Gurugram: Delhivery’s boardroom is being reset. Deepak Kapoor, chairman and independent director, has resigned with effect from April 1 as part of a planned board reconstitution, the logistics company said in an exchange filing. Saugata Gupta, managing director and chief executive of FMCG major Marico and an independent director on Delhivery’s board, has also stepped down.

Kapoor exits after an eight-year stint that included steering the company through its 2022 stock-market debut, a period that saw Delhivery transform from a venture-backed upstart into one of India’s most visible logistics platforms. Gupta, who joined the board in 2021, departs alongside him, marking a simultaneous clearing of two senior independent seats.

“Deepak and Saugata have been instrumental in our process of recognising the need for and enabling the reconstitution of the board of directors in line with our ambitious next phase of growth,” said Sahil Barua, managing director and chief executive, Delhivery. The statement frames the exits less as departures and more as deliberate succession, a boardroom shuffle timed to the company’s evolving scale and strategy.

The resignations arrive amid broader governance recalibration. In 2025, Delhivery appointed Emcure Pharmaceuticals whole-time director Namita Thapar, PB Fintech founder and chairman Yashish Dahiya, and IIM Bangalore faculty member Padmini Srinivasan as independent directors, signalling a tilt towards consumer, fintech and academic expertise at the board level.

Kapoor’s tenure spanned Delhivery’s most defining years, rapid network expansion, public listing and the push towards profitability in a bruising logistics market. Gupta’s presence brought FMCG and brand-scale perspective during a period when ecommerce volumes and last-mile delivery economics were being rewritten.

The twin exits, effective from the new financial year, underscore a familiar corporate rhythm: founders consolidate, veterans rotate out, and fresh voices are ushered in to script the next chapter. In India’s hyper-competitive logistics race, even the boardroom does not stand still.

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Brnd.me enters Europe as haircare brands power global expansion

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Bengaluru:  Brnd.me, the global consumer brands company formerly known as Mensa Brands, has entered the European market following strong momentum across the Middle East, the United States and Canada.

The company has launched across the UK, Germany, France and Spain, with plans to expand into Italy, the Netherlands and Poland over the next year. The push is being led by its haircare and aromatherapy brands, Botanic Hearth and Majestic Pure, marking Brnd.me’s first structured expansion into Europe.

The European beauty market represents a total addressable opportunity of over $4 billion across haircare and aromatherapy, supported by high digital adoption and demand for accessible, performance-led products.

Brnd.me’s hair care and aromatherapy business currently operates at an annual run rate of around $6 million, with Botanic Hearth and Majestic Pure delivering roughly 10 per cent month-on-month growth, driven by expansion and rising repeat demand.

To support regional growth, the company has appointed a general manager based in Germany and is evaluating investments in warehousing and local team expansion.

Early traction has been strong. Within weeks of launch, Botanic Hearth’s rosemary hair oil ranked among the top five hair oils in Germany, signalling strong consumer pull in a competitive market.

Brnd.me founder and chief executive officer Ananth Narayanan, said Europe represents the next phase of the company’s international strategy. He added that the European business is expected to scale to a $10 million annual run rate by the end of 2026, with long-term ambitions to reach $60 million over the next six years.

The company’s Europe strategy centres on digital-first distribution, repeat demand and TikTok-led discovery, alongside direct-to-consumer expansion to strengthen brand equity and margins.

The move also aligns with growing EU–India trade engagement, supporting long-term sourcing and cross-border supply chains.

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TechnoSport taps quick commerce with launch on Slikk’s 60-minute platform

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NATIONAL: TechnoSport has launched on Slikk, the ultra-fast fashion app offering 60-minute delivery, as the activewear brand accelerates its push into quick commerce to capture Gen Z and young millennial shoppers.

The debut brings more than 150 high-performance styles to Slikk’s platform, with an average selling price of Rs 450, expanding TechnoSport’s reach across over 80 pin codes.

The partnership follows strong momentum for TechnoSport across Q-commerce channels, where the brand has recorded around 60 per cent volume growth over the past six months. The company expects quick commerce to contribute nearly 20 per cent of its revenue in the coming years as hyperlocal delivery gains scale.

Slikk, which recently raised $3.2 million in seed funding led by Lightspeed, has rapidly gained popularity among youth consumers seeking speed, trend relevance and impulse-led shopping experiences.

Activewear remains one of Slikk’s fastest-growing categories, driven by shoppers increasingly treating fitness-led fashion as an everyday essential. The platform has reported a 30-fold year-on-year increase in items sold, reflecting rising demand for performance wear that blends comfort with style.

TechnoSport chief executive officer Puspen Maity, said the collaboration would help the brand engage more closely with young consumers whose fashion choices are shaped by instant needs and lifestyle aspirations. He added that rapid delivery bridges the gap between intent and purchase, allowing shoppers to access activewear exactly when they want it.

 

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