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Valentino, who died on Monday at 93, leaves a lasting legacy full of celebrities, glamour and, in his words, knowing what women want: to be beautiful. The Italian fashion powerhouse has secured his dream of making a lasting impact, outliving Karl Lagerfeld and Yves Saint Laurent. Valentino was known for his unique blend between the bold and colourful Italian fashion and the elegant French haute couturethe highest level of craftsmanship in fashion, with exceptional detail and strict professional dressmaking standards. The blending of these styles to create the signature Valentino silhouette made his style distinctive. Valentinos style was reserved, and over his career, he built upon the haute couture skills he had developed, maintaining his signature style while he led his fashion house for five decades. But he was certainly not without his own controversial views on beauty for women. Becoming the designer Born in Voghera, Italy, in 1932, Valentino Clemente Ludovico began his career early, knowing from a young age he would pursue fashion. He drew from a young age and studied fashion drawing at Santa Marta Institute of Fashion Drawing in Milan before honing his technical design skills at École de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne, the fashion trade association, in Paris. He started his fashion career at two prominent Parisian haute couture houses, first at Jean Desss before moving to Guy Laroche. He opened his own fashion house in Italy in 1959. His early work had a heavy French influence with simple, clean designs and complex silhouettes and construction. His early work had blocked colour and more of a minimalist approach, before his Italian culture really came through later in his collections. He achieved early success through his connections to the Italian film industry, including dressing Elizabeth Taylor fresh off her appearance in Cleopatra (1963). Elizabeth Taylor wearing Valentino while dancing with Kirk Douglas at the party in Rome for the film Spartacus. [Photo: Keystone/Getty Images] Valentino joined the world stage on his first showing at the Pritti Palace in Florence in 1962. His most notable collection during that era was in 1968 with The White Collection, a series of A-line dresses and classic suit jackets. The collection was striking: all in white, while Italy was all about colour. He quickly grew in international popularity. He was beloved by European celebrities, and an elite group of women who were willing to spend the moneythe dresses ran into the thousands of dollars. In 1963, he travelled to the United States to attract Hollywood stars. The Valentino woman Valentinos wish was to make women beautiful. He certainly attracted the A-list celebrities to do so. The Valentino woman was one who would hold themselves with confidence and a lady-like elegance. Valentino wanted to see women attract attention with his classic silhouettes and balanced proportions. Valentino dressed women such as Jackie Kennedy, Audrey Hepburn, Julia Roberts, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Anne Hathaway. Anne Hathaway and Valentino Garavani attend the 2011 Oscars. [Photo: Fairchild Archive/Penske Media/Getty Images] His aristocratic taste inherited ideas of beauty and old European style, rather than innovating with new trends. His signature style was formal designs that had the ability to quietly intimidateincluding the insatiable Valentino red. Red was a signature colour of his collections. The colour provided confidence and romance, while not distracting away from the beauty of the woman. French influence Being French-trained, Valentino was well acquainted with the rules of couture. With this expertise, he was one of the first Italian designers to be successful in France as an outsider with the launch of his first Paris collection in 1975. This Paris collection showcased more relaxed silhouettes with many layers, playing towards the casual nature of fashion. A model in the Valentino Spring 1976 ready to wear collection walks the runway in Paris in 1975. [Photo: Fairchild Archive/WWD/Penske Media/Getty Images] While his design base was in Rome, many of his collections were shown in Paris over the next four decades. His Italian culture mixed with the technicality of Parisian haute couture made Valentino the designer he was. Throughout his career, his designs often maintained a classic silhouette bust, matched with a bold Italian colour or texture. Unlike some designers today, Valentinos collections didnt change too dramatically each season. Instead, they continued to maintain the craftsmanship and high couture standards. Quintessentially beautiful is often the description of Valentinos work however this devotion to high beauty standards has seen criticism of the industry. In 2007, Valentino defended the trend of very skinny women on runways, saying when girls are skinny, the dresses are more attractive. Critics said his designs reinforce exclusion, gatekeeping fashion from those who dont conform to traditional beauty standards. The Valentino runways only recently have started to feature more average sized bodies and expand their definition of beauty. The $300 million sale of Valentino The Valentino fashion brand sold for US$300 million in 1998 to Holding di Partecipazioni Industriali, with Valentino still designing until his retirement in 2007. Valentino sold to increase the size of his brand: he knew without the support of a larger corporation surviving alone would be impossible. Since Valentinos retirement, the fashion house has continued under other creative directors. Valentino will leave a lasting legacy as the Italian designer who managed to break through the noise of the French haute couture elite and make a name for himself. The iconic Valentino red will forever be remembered for its glamour, and will live on with his legacy. A true Roman visionary with unmatched craftsmanship. Jye Marshall is a lecturer of fashion design at the School of Design and Architecture at Swinburne University of Technology. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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In 2019, during his first term, U.S. President Donald Trump expressed a desire to buy Greenland, which has been a part of Denmark for some 300 years. Danes and Greenlanders quickly rebuffed the offer at the time. During Trumps second term, those offers have turned to threats. Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social in late December 2024 that, for purposes of national security, U.S. control over Greenland was a necessity. The president has continued to insist on the national security rationale into January 2026. And he has refused to rule out the use of military force to control Greenland. From my perspective as an international relations scholar focused on Europe, Trumps national security rationale doesnt make sense. Greenland, like the U.S., is a member of NATO, which provides a collective defense pact, meaning member nations will respond to an attack on any alliance member. And because of a 1951 defense agreement between the U.S. and Denmark, the U.S. can already build military installations in Greenland to protect the region. Trumps 2025 National Security Strategy, which stresses control of the Western Hemisphere and keeping China out of the region, provides insight into Trumps thinking. US interests in Greenland The United States has tried to acquire Greenland several times. In 1867, Secretary of State William Seward commissioned a survey of Greenland. Impressed with the abundance of natural resources on the island, he pushed to acquire Greenland and Iceland for US$5.5 millionroughly $125 million today. But Congress was still concerned about the purchase of Alaska that year, which Seward had engineered. It had seen Alaska as too cold and too distant from the rest of the U.S. to justify spending $7.2 millionroughly $164 million todayalthough Congress ultimately agreed to do it. There was not enough national support for another frozen land. In 1910, the U.S. ambassador to Denmark proposed a complex trade involving Germany, Denmark and the United States. Denmark would give the U.S. Greenland, and the U.S. would give Denmark islands in the Philippines. Denmark would then give those islands to Germany, and Germany would return Schleswig-HolsteinGermanys northernmost stateto Denmark. But the U.S. quickly dismissed the proposed trade as too audacious. During World War II, Nazi Germany occupied Denmark, and the U.S. assumed the role of protector of both Greenland and Iceland, both of which belonged to Denmark at the time. The U.S. built airstrips, weather stations and radar and communications stationsfive on Greenlands east coast and nine on the west coast. The Pituffik Space Base, formerly Thule Air Base, is pictured in northern Greenland on Oct. 4, 2023. [Photo: Thomas Traasdahl/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images] The U.S. used Greenland and Iceland as bases for bombers that attacked Germany and German-occupied areas. Greenland had a high value for military strategists because of its location in the North Atlanticto counter Nazi threats to Allied shipping lanes and protect transatlantic routes, and because it was a midpoint for refueling U.S. aircraft. Greenlands importance also rested on its deposits of cryolite, useful for making aluminum. In 1946, the Truman administration offered to buy Greenland for $100 million, as U.S. military leaders thought it would play a critical role in the Cold War. The secret U.S. project Operation Blue Jay at the beginning of the Cold War resulted in the construction of Thule Air Base in northwestern Greenland, which allowed U.S. bombers to be closer to the Soviet Union. Renamed Pituffik Space Base, today it provides a 24/7 missile warning and space surveillance facility that is critical to NATO and U.S. security strategy. At the end of World War II, Denmark recognized Greenland as one of its territories. In 1953, Greenland gained constitutional rights and became a country within the Kingdom of Denmark. Greenland was assigned self-rule in 1979, and by 2009 it became a self-governing country, still within the Kingdom of Denmark, which includes Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. Denmark recognizes the government of Greenland as an equal partner and recently gave it a more significant role as the first voice for Denmark in the Arctic Council, which promotes cooperation in the Arctic. What the US may want The Trump administrations 2025 National Security Strategy identifies three threats in the Western Hemisphere: migration, drugs and crimes, and Chinas increasing influence. Two of those threats are irrelevant when considering Greenland. Greenlandic people are not migrating to the U.S., and they are not drug traffickers. However, Greenland is rich in rare earth minerals, including neodymium, dysprosium, graphite, copper and lithium. Additionally, China seeks to establish mining interests in Greenland and the Arctic as part of its Polar Silk Road initiative. China had offered to build an infrastructure for Greenland, including improving the airport, until Denmark stepped in and offered airport funding. And China has worked with Australian companies to secure mining opportunities on the island. A U.S. Air Force helicopter flies near Thule Air Base in Greenland in 1955. [Photo: James McAnally/Archive Photos/Getty Images] Those rare earth minerals appeal to the European Union, too. The EU lists some 30 raw materials that are essential for their economies. Twenty-five are in Greenland. The Trump administration has made it clear that controlling these minerals is a national security issue, and the president wants to keep them away from China. Figures vary, but it is estimated that over 60% of rare earth elements or minerals are currently mined in China. China also refines some 90% of rare earths. This gives China tremendous leverage in trade talks. And it results in a dangerous vulnerability for the U.S. and other nation states seeking to modernize their economies. With few suppliers of these rare earth elements, the political and economic costs of securing them are high. Greenland has only two operating mines. One is the Tan Breez project in southern Greenland. It produces 17 metals, including terbium and neodymium, that are used in high-strength magnets used in many green technologies and in aircraft manufacturing, including for the F-35 fighter planes. Consider for a moment that Trump is not interested in owning Greenland. Instead, he is using this threatening position to secure promises from the Greenlandic government to make economic deals with the U.S. and not China. Thus, Trumps threats could be less about national security and much more about eliminating competition from China and securing wealth for U.S. interests. This form of coercive diplomacy threatens the political and economic development of not only Greenland but Europe. In recent interviews, Trump has made it clear that he does not respect international law and the sovereignty of countries. His position, I believe, undermines the international order and removes the U.S. as a responsible leader of that framework established after World War II. Steven Lamy is a professor emeritus of political science and international relations and spatial sciences at USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Autodesk, Inc., a maker of digital design software, announced Thursday it plans to lay off about 1,000 employees, largely in sales roles. The announcement comes just a week after another tech company, Meta, announced it would eliminate up to 1,500 positions. Heres what you need to know about the latest tech company layoffs. Whats happened? The plan will reduce Autodesk’s workforce by approximately 7%. Autodesk indicated a significant number of the affected jobs would be in customer-facing sales roles. The plan will also reallocate resources to accelerate strategic priorities, The Wall Street Journal reported. CEO Andrew Anagnost assured employees in a letter that these layoffs were not indicative of a yearly pattern or a shift to replacing workers with AI. Last February, Autodesk announced a plan to reduce its workforce by 9%. How many jobs are being lost? The 2026 layoffs are projected to affect around 1,000 employees. Autodesks 2025 layoffs were projected to affect around 1,350 employees, according to Anagnosts internal message. Autodesk predicts pre-tax restructuring charges between $135 and $160 million, largely tied to employee termination benefits. The restructuring plan is expected to conclude by the end of fiscal year 2027. Why is Autodesk laying off employees? This move is part of the final phase in Autodesks recent efforts to optimize sales and marketing. Last Februarys layoffs were informed by the need to drive more efficiency and focus to implement specific programs, according to Anagnosts statement to employees. In the letter to employees, Anagnost said the reduction focuses on completing the companys go-to-market transformation, expanding its AI and platform capabilities and strengthening corporate functions. At Autodesk University in September 2025, the company revealed brand-new AI tools with pre-beta software, indicating a big step forward in Autodesks AI investments. One such tool was a neural CAD, which Autodesk said could automate 80-90% of routine design tasks. Other 2026 tech layoffs Just last week, Meta announced a 10% reduction in its Reality Labs division, the section of the company primarily responsible for augmented and virtual reality (like the metaverse). It was the largest layoff announcement in the tech sector so far in 2026. Nearly 124,000 employees across 269 tech companies were laid off in 2025, according to data compiled by Layoffs.fyi. With Meta and Autodesk’s projected reductions alone, at least 2,500 employees across the two companies will lose their jobs. Since 2023, Autodesk has laid off at least 1,600 employees.
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