Madame Piaggi

Today brought the very sad news that one of fashions most loved and respected journalists has passed away. Anna Piaggi was an Italian fashion writer who wrote famously for Vogue Italia, with such a signature style that makes her unforgettable. Her outfits very totally crazy and looked just quickly thrown together but each component of it isn't a mistake, Anna creates the trends by pushing the boundaries. Her style is her expressing her own version of fashion. Her admirers were at every level of fashion including fashion designers; Karl Lagerfeld and Manolo Blahnik. She had a knowledge of multiple languages, which is why her first job was being a translator but in the 1960's she switched paths to enter fashion Journalism. This proved to be the right move, in the 1970's she landed her first Vogue article and the rest is history!

What I admire about her is how she didn't follow the trends and dressed for herself. She put outfits together in such a unique way, her outfits looked thrown together but within her outfits you can see that it actually hasn't been, she has thought about what the clothes are doing and how they work together . She showcased what fashion could be, not what's in fashion and how to wear the trends, she was showing ideas about print/colour/shape combinations, almost like an inspiration board would do!

'Ah, Stephen, I am doing a wonderful thing and I need a new hat..' DailyMail

'I think she’s a poet with clothes, but a very fine poet.' Vogue.com

'It doesn't have to be Dior with Anna. She's always worn 1920s shoes with Dolce trousers and a vintage Patou coat and a plastic belt, and a ski pole for a walking stick and crazy blue hair and a funny hat. She's about the possibility of what fashion can be.' HINT MAGAZINE

 'My life is quite normal. But I enjoy dressing all the time..' Paper Magazine

JAN 2006 – With Vivienne Westwood at the Fashion-ology exhibition.

"Hats are like a halo of happiness," 

she told Stephen Jones at the event. 

http://www.vogue.co.uk/spy/biographies/anna-piaggi-biography/gallery#

Hormazd Narielwalla

I discovered this illustrator whilst at college, he really helped me to get inspired for a project about unconventional fashion illustration. I was drawn to his work as it's a different way of combining fashion and collage together. He recycles old dress making patterns and creates them into a fashion portrait. 

'I’m working on some new art and have chosen to draw and collage impressions of Anna Piaggi. She is quite the fashion icon, I have used a combination of 1930 Pre-War tailoring patterns from a Thornton’s Cutting Book – lot’s of shapes and colours have been used to bring her to life.'  

http://narielwalla.com 

He has captured her love for her avant grade millerny and sense of mixing up a silhouette and colour.

I hope she is forever remembered.

Thanks for reading,