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Italian fashion designer Valentino Garavani has died at age 93.Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis Via Getty ImagesItalian fashion designer Valentino Garavani has died at 93 in Rome.He launched the Valentino fashion house in 1960 and soon became a key figure in the fashion world.Here's a look at how women across fashion and Hollywood paid tribute to him.Italian fashion designer Valentino Garavani, known as Valentino, has died at 93, his foundation announced in an Instagram post on Monday."Our founder, Valentino Garavani passed away today at his Roman residence, surrounded by his loved ones," the caption read.Valentino founded his eponymous fashion house in 1960 and quickly became one of fashion's defining figures. He was celebrated for his glamorous, elegant designs and his signature shade, "Valentino Red."His clothes were worn by numerous celebrities and even royalty, including Princess Diana, Jackie Kennedy Onassis, and Elizabeth Taylor."I know what women want," he said in "Valentino: The Last Emperor," a 2008 documentary about his life and career. "They want to be beautiful."Here's how women across fashion and Hollywood paid tribute to the designer after his death.Gwyneth PaltrowGwyneth Paltrow and Valentino Garavani at the 2002 Venice Film Festival.J. Vespa/WireImageGwyneth Paltrow paid tribute to Valentino in an Instagram post featuring a photo of her kissing the late designer on the cheek."I was so lucky to know and love Valentino-to know the real man, in private. The man who was in love with beauty, his family, his muses, his friends. His dogs, his gardens, and a good Hollywood story. I loved him so much. I loved how he always pestered me to 'at least wear a little mascara' when I came to dinner. I loved his naughty laugh," Paltrow wrote in the caption."This feels like the end of an era. He will be deeply missed by me and all who loved him. Rest in peace, Vava," she wrote.Paltrow has worn Valentino gowns for many major moments over the years, including the 2013 Met Gala and her 2018 wedding to Brad Falchuk.Cindy CrawfordCindy Crawford and Valentino Garavani at the Valentino Fall 1997 Couture runway show.WWD/Penske Media via Getty ImagesCindy Crawford paid tribute to the designer on Instagram, sharing a photo of the pair on the runway together."I'm heartbroken to hear of Valentino Garavani's passing. He was a true master of his craft, and I will always be grateful for the years I had the privilege of working closely with him," Crawford wrote.Crawford has walked the Valentino runway and appeared in multiple campaigns for the brand over the years.Carla BruniCarla Bruni and Valentino Garavani at Paris Fashion Week in 2017.Pascal Le Segretain/Getty ImagesFormer French first lady and model Carla Bruni also took to Instagram to share a tribute to Valentino."I'm moved by the departure of the immense Valentino who will leave so much beauty in the world. He was a teacher and it was an honor and a great privilege to know him and parade for him and I will always remember his great kindness and infinite elegance," Bruni wrote in her caption in Italian. "My thoughts are with @giancarlogiammetti and all of Valentino's family. Rest in peace #valentino."Bruni has modeled for Valentino numerous times throughout her career.Claudia SchifferValentino Garavani on the runway with Claudia Schiffer during the finale of his spring 1998 couture collection.WWD/Penske Media via Getty ImagesClaudia Schiffer paid tribute to Valentino with a series of Instagram photos, including shots of her with the designer and from her campaigns for the brand."Heartbroken to hear of the passing of my old friend Valentino. He is what true legends are made of, living on forever through the brand he created, the embodiment of timeless elegance and glamour. I loved the special times where I got to bring his creations to life on and off the runway. One of my favourite campaigns was in Rome where I became Anita Ekberg in La Dolce Vita, a memory I will cherish forever,"…

Alexis Ohanian said he doesn't miss Reddit.Amal Alhasan/Getty Images for Fortune MediaReddit's cofounder, Alexis Ohanian, said he does not miss being in leadership at the company.He conducted an "Ask Me Anything" on Reddit, where a user asked him whether he missed the platform.Ohanian is partnering with entrepreneur Kevin Rose to relaunch Reddit's old rival, Digg.Reddit's cofounder doesn't miss working at the company he started more than 20 years ago.Alexis Ohanian, who left Reddit's board five years ago, conducted an "Ask Me Anything" on the platform on Monday to promote the relaunch of the old Reddit rival, Digg.A Reddit user asked Ohanian, "Do you miss anything about being in leadership at Reddit?"His answer was curt: "I do not."Ohanian stepped down from Reddit's board of directors in June 2020 following the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis. At the time, he wrote on Reddit that it was a "long overdue" move to "do the right thing."He urged the Reddit board to fill his seat with a black candidate, after the company had been criticized for providing a platform for racist and hate speech.Ohanian said in the AMA on Monday that he left Reddit "to pressure the company to make policy changes like banning racist/hate communities."Digg is a Reddit-like forum page founded in 2004 by entrepreneurs Kevin Rose and Jay Adelson.In 2008, Google floated a deal to buy the platform for $180 million, which did not come to fruition. Venture capital fund Betaworks bought it in 2012 for $500,000.But last year, TechCrunch reported that Rose had reacquired the platform, joined by Ohanian.Ohanian said on his AMA that Digg will be a community-first platform, with a transparent algorithm "based on what you actually follow."He also promised not to feed Digg's users with "AI-driven enshittification.""We are not using AI to rank content, shape discourse, personalize feeds, or decide what you should see," he said. "There is no black box recommendation engine optimizing for engagement. Our feed logic is simple, published, and human readable."Read the original article on Business Insider

Gina Jaguttis came to Bali to improve her surfing and left with a newly launched side hustle.Gina JaguttisGina Jaguttis launched a slow fashion workwear brand after being inspired at a surf camp.Her business idea came from personal struggles finding quality professional clothing.She said she realized that if the business fails, it would at least make a good story.On a Monday morning in early December, I met Gina Jaguttis as we loaded our surfboards into the camp van just before sunrise. We only got to talking on a choppy boat ride that took us a mile off the coast of Bali, Indonesia.The 26-year-old real estate project manager from Munich came to the surf camp to improve her skills on the water. I came to talk with adventurous travelers about their big ideas, from new businesses to life after layoffs.At our camp's bonfire that night, she began to tell me why she made a second solo expedition to the tropical island. As we toasted marshmallows, she shared that she had launched a small side hustle a day before the bonfire.A few weeks after we got home, both recovering from sunburns and surf injuries, we unpacked her story further in a call. Our chats have been edited for length and clarity; the following is in Jaguttis' words.When I started my career a few years ago, I struggled to find formal clothes that looked professional and were good quality. Brands like Zara or Mango didn't meet my longevity standards, and I didn't love how they are mass-produced. Construction and real estate are male-dominated, and I always wanted to look well-dressed so others know that they have to treat me professionally.In college, I was the girl who had a capsule wardrobe with pieces such as turtlenecks and cotton pants that I knew looked stylish then but also 10 years later. When I started work, it was frustrating to find well-fitted suits or blouses that were timeless and would last several years. On a trip to Bali and Thailand in 2024, I decided to invest in workwear and got a few pieces custom-made at a tailor's shop. I created vision boards, selected high-quality fabrics, and had some classic pieces made. I finally felt like I had outfits that made me feel confident in front of manager and director-level people.Once I started wearing these suits back home, people asked me where I bought them from and were surprised to hear that I designed them myself. One woman said that if I ever turned it into a business, she would definitely be up for buying from me.When I heard this for a second time, I started thinking about building my own brand.'It would make a good story'Jaguttis flew to Bali for a second time in 2025 to improve her surfing skills.Gina JaguttisStarting a business, especially one that I would fund entirely with my own savings, is always a daunting prospect. The biggest thought holding me back was "Am I going to fail?"In late November 2025, about a year after my first trip, I went to Bali again, this time to learn how to surf. I stayed at a surf camp and was surrounded by inspiring people from all over the world.It was a reflective retreat for most of them, and many were there to figure out what they wanted out of life. I met people who took all kinds of risks: musicians who stuck to their passion even when they struggled to find a job, people in between career changes, or someone living out of a van while she figured out her life plan.Talking to them made me realize that I actually knew what I wanted, and it made me think about what was really holding me back. They told me that if I fail, it would be a good story.I launched my company's Instagram that day. This is the second installment of "Beyond the break," for which Business Insider's Shubhangi Goel attended a surf camp in Bali, Indonesia, reporting on career breaks and adventure sports.Read the first: My manager and I got laid off, so we packed up our wetsuits and went to surf camp in Bali I'm not in a rushIt's been a few weeks since I was at the surf camp and launched my business.…

Hady KfouryNAYAHady Kfoury grew Naya from a single restaurant to a fast-casual chain with more than 40 locations.Kfoury's experience has shown him there are several common misconceptions about the industry.He said running a fast-casual spot is harder than you'd think and that it's not just about the food.This is an as-told-to essay based on a conversation with Hady Kfoury, the founder of Naya, a fast-casual Lebanese-inspired food chain with more than 40 locations on the East Coast. Naya plans to have 200 locations nationwide by 2030. This story has been edited for length and clarity.I studied hospitality in Switzerland and then came to New York to work under celebrity chefs, Daniel Boulud and François Payard, so I had experience in fine dining. When I decided to open the first Naya in 2008, that was more or less my comfort zone.A week after we launched, we got an amazing article in the New York Times and then we were packed for lunch and dinner. It definitely helped prevent us from shutting down after a few months.A couple of years in, we realized the food worked incredibly well in a faster and more accessible format. If you go to a Lebanese restaurant, you have all these mezze in the middle of the table, like a plate with a variety of dips and vegetables, and you're putting scoops on your plate. That's how we eat usually. So that's why I shifted my focus into a fast-casual model.Today, we have 44 restaurants and we are riding the wave of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisine in general. It's definitely become mainstream, which is totally different than almost 20 years ago when I started the business.As we scale, I've found there are four major misconceptions about the restaurant business.1. Fast casual is not easyA lot of people think fast-casual restaurants are easy. It is not easy. Serving more guests at a faster pace doesn't mean it's a simple effort; it means you should master your systems and consistency at scale, possibly even more rigor than in fine dining.The biggest challenge we have is that you're on an assembly line. You're not cooking per order. It's a problem for any restaurant with a service line. How do you plan to rotate food in a certain way, and to cook it a certain amount, so the food remains fresh and not overcooked?My R&D doesn't stop. It keeps me up at night thinking about how we can keep improving what we do. And any change you make to improve something, you're rolling it out at 44 restaurants, so you have to be very mindful and careful.2. Expansion doesn't mean successGrowing only works when the business fundamentals — training, supply chain, quality control — are built to handle it repeatedly. Growing without readiness is chaotic.From 2008 to 2020, I grew Naya to seven restaurants without any partners because all I cared about was being profitable and having a great team in place. Growth only works when you have those fundamentals. In 2020, I partnered with a private-equity firm, which was initially scary, but the rules were clear from day one that we would prioritize those fundamentals.3. Cutting corners doesn't increase profitsSome people think cutting corners gets you a more profitable bottom line, but that is not the case. Cutting costs often undermines guest trust. You lose the customer trust, and the brands that endure are the ones that deliver authenticity, quality, and transparency every time.We're trying to be very affordable, and we fall somewhere in the middle of the category, but I will never drop quality. I recently partnered with Pat LaFrieda, one of the best high-end butchers in the tristate. Even with our vegetables, we try to get deliveries three to four times per week rather than two times where you could get cheaper products.4. It's about more than foodPeople think that it's all about the food, but people matter so much too. What keeps guests coming back and what keeps your team thriving is a culture of service, training, and retention.I take extremely good care of my team.…