As the world mourns the passing of Italian fashion icon Anna Piaggi we celebrate her distinctive style, and memorable outfits!
Piaggi was born in Milan in 1931, and worked as a translator for an Italian publishing company Mondadori, writing also for fashion magazines such as the Italian edition of Vogue and, in the 1980s, the avant-garde magazine Vanity. Since 1969, she used a bright red manual Olivetti Valentine typewriter for her work.
Piaggi expansive wardrobe was said to include 3,000 dresses and 265 pairs of shoes, according to a 2006 exhibition at the¬†Victoria and Albert Museum¬†in¬†London. She dressed in an exuberant, unique and eclectic way, never appearing in the same outfit more than once in public. Such was her influence and knowledge in the fashion world,¬†Manolo Blahnik¬†dubbed her “The world’s last great authority on frocks”.
Her associates in the fashion world included the fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld (from the 1970s), who has often sketched her, and Manolo Blahnik, who is the designer of many of her shoes. She was the muse of British milliner Stephen Jones. She was also an admirer of British clothes designer Vivienne Westwood and her hats, made by Prudence Millinery.
Piaggi lived in New York and visited London and Italy periodically since the 1950s, and appeared in the documentary Bill Cunningham New York on the New York Times fashion and social photographer Bill Cunningham.
