Remembering Un Individuo Unico: Anna Piaggi

- August 07, 2012

I think I was the last one to learn - regretfully and sadly - about the death of this iconic woman.

The first time I've seen a photo of her, I believe it was a street fashion snapshot made by the notorious street fashion photographer from The New York Times, Bill Cunningham, featured in the On The Street style section of the Sunday newspaper some years ago. I remembered then thinking how I just wanted to keep looking at her. There was something about Anna Piaggi, an Italian fashion editor and writer famed for her blue hair and eccentric, vintage-tinged style, that was so odd that it was so luring, so interesting, so unique about her.

She was THE CHARACTERShe was an inspiration to many fashion designers, especially beloved by Karl Lagerfeld.

Yes - it might have been her colored blue hair, or - the many unbelievably unique hair pieces that she wore over the years. She was one of the kind, and as one artist I've heard some time ago put it: "For the person to be considered an artist - a unique, one of the kind artist, that is - he/she has to be THE FIRST one to do something that captures the attention of the thousands, millions and who is doing something so unique that it becomes the topic of the conversation around the world."...Well, she definitely did it for years.

Anna Piaggi was ONE OF THE KIND. She was THE topic of the conversation, if not globally, but definitely withing the high fashion scene in Paris, Milan, and London.

Piaggi was described by Bill Cunningham as a “fine poet in clothes." She died in her home in Milan on Tuesday at the age of 81.

Piaggi, who contributed to dozens of Italian fashion magazines including Vogue Italia, was a runway fixture, garnering attention for her collection of hats, brightly colored fur stoles and boas and predilection for layering wild patterns.