Piaggi: a front row fixture at the shows

Despite what seasonal trend reports and numerous fashion bibles might have you believe, there are very few original fashion mavericks out there anymore. Sure there are lots of designers, models and editors that look sexy, chic and oh-so-fabulous, but truly eccentric fashionistas are something of a dying breed.

Step forward Anna Piaggi. Piaggi defies beige, black and grey, instead embracing a look so unpredictable and colourful that she has become something of an institution in fashion circles, since becoming a fashion editor in her native Italy in the early 1960′s.

Born and raised in Milan, Piaggi spent her years after education as an au pair in a bid to learn new languages and fuel her passion for travel. She soon met her husband, the Italian fashion photographer Alfa Castaldi, who was to become a source of inspiration to Piaggi for the rest of their marriage.

Throughout the 60′s and 70′s Piaggi travelled the world with Castaldi, collecting fashionable friends wherever she went; David Bailey in London, Karl Lagerfeld in Paris, Manolo Blahnik in Chelsea. Writing about their lifelong friendship for the V&A museum’s 2006 Anna Piaggi: Fashion-ology exhibition, Manolo Blahnik says of Piaggi; “Her vision remains as youthful and excited as it was when I met her all those years ago.”

Not one to shy away from experimenting, the one-time editor of Italian Vogue and creator of the avant-garde fashion magazine Vanity, has flirted with fashion for the last thirty years, collecting flamboyant outfits whilst reporting on trends and acting as a muse for Lagerfeld and Blahnik. Lagerfeld was so inspired by Piaggi that throughout the 70′s, when they both lived in Paris, he drew over 250 sketches of her – the first of which was scrawled on a paper napkin from a Chinese restaurant. In 1988 these sketches were turned into Lagerfeld’s second book, Lagerfeld’s Sketchbook: Karl Lagerfeld’s Illustrated Fashion Journal of Anna Piaggi.

Over time, Piaggi’s eccentric blue coif, kohl-rimmed eyes and bright red lips became her trademarks, always complementing her choice of outfit, which in any one day could include a multicoloured fur, a newsprint top hat or leopard print flares.

In 2006 the Victoria & Albert Museum dedicated a whole floor to Anna Piaggi’s extensive vintage collection of clothes and antiques. With direct help from Piaggi and the designers who covet her, the Fashion-ology exhibition was created to show off the style icon and the only narrator of 60′s and 70′s fashion worth listening to.

The exhibition gave visitors a glimpse into Piaggi’s colourful world; vintage frocks, personal photographs and affectionately drawn fashion illustrations by Lagerfeld. Piaggi coined the term ‘fashion-ology’ in an attempt to describe writing creatively about the fashions of the moment. As well as many of her fashion editorials and covers of Vanity and Vogue, there were her treasured ‘D.P.’s’: brightly coloured collages of fashion trends and predictions.

One of Lagerfeld's sketches of Piaggi

These double pages, or Doppie Pagine, became a regular feature in Italian Vogue; providing an outlet for Piaggi’s ideas, fantasies and desires concerning fashion. On these pages she would cross-reference architecture and music, fine art and literature, to give the fashion-conscious reader a cultural foundation from which to view the latest trend.

Fashion does not operate alone, it can influence other media just as it can be influenced by potentially circuitous references. Anna still contributes to Italian Vogue, aided by her trusty Olivetti typewriter, though she has in the past has described her work for the magazine as “purely decorative”.

In 1995 Castaldi died, ending their happy marriage of over thirty years. In 2004 Piaggi commented in an article for The Observer that Alfa Castaldi was ‘ a bohemian, but so clever. One of the most cultivated persons I ever met.’

Not long after this Piaggi published her first book in 1998. Fashion Algebra was a lavish affair, a hardback collection of D.P.’s, collages and spreads created for Italian Vogue. Purposefully lacking in any chronological order, the spreads, from the 80′s and 90′s, are a mix of couture, architecture, music and side notes. The book has become a staple on many designer coffee tables and opening it almost feels like you are entering into Piaggi’s own thoughts on a particular moment in fashion.

The beauty of Piaggi’s ever expanding relationship with fashion is that she treats it with affection, humanising vintage finds and giving garments a character of their own. The way in which Piaggi describes her collection and how she approaches fashion in a frivolous, unpredictable yet logical manner, makes one desire the clothing she writes about, wanting a tactile experience, filled with movement and excitement.

Despite her age, which one should never ask a lady, Piaggi is still a breath of fresh air, attending fashion shows and parties with flair and gusto, often on the arm of Franca Sozzani, the Editor-in-Chief of Italian Vogue. Her frivolity with fashion has no doubt influenced countless designers and editors over the years and her mere presence brings a smile to the room. An arbiter of fashion that shows no signs of slowing down, Anna Piaggi is and always will be; a true fashion rebel.