Piaggi

Anna (1931). Emblematic figure of the fashion world, with a taste for intellectual and irreverent provocation, a natural bent for aesthetics, and an editorial background. Also a passionate and dedicated collector of vintage clothing, books, objects, music, and “things” that she freely interprets with a precise aim: to capture the beauty of “the contemporary moment.” She has a rare talent for picking up special pieces and rare objects (sometimes just words) during her travels around the world, always with an eye for that special something. Throughout this life-long mission, she has had two illustrious mentors: her husband Alfa Castaldi (whom she married in New York in 1962), a photographer with a wide-ranging and eclectic knowledge of culture, and Vern Lambert, an English eccentric and collector of vintage clothes. Following her subtle and imaginative sense of humor, her modern and ironic approach to enjoyment and her irrational logic on a very personal “ego trip,” Piaggi has brought her carefully catalogued collection of clothes out of the wardrobe and gradually assimilated them into her daily life. They are clothes to be worn on an imaginary, abstract stage, acting out an imaginary, whimsical part, with the fashion world as the only point of reference and with the aim of provoking a reaction. Piaggi finds different ways of matching and combining outfits, mixing in different creative media (take for example her famous presentations of Missoni’s collections). Armed with her cultivated talent, her rare sensibility, her creativity, and able to interpret different styles, trends, eras, music, and objects, Anna Piaggi revels in creating ostentatiously irreverent “mixes” with supreme intelligent indifference and total control over the desired effect. A Milanese with a traditional education, Piaggi started off as a translator at Mondadori, she then became a fashion journalist in the 1960s when Mondadori brought her in as the fashion editor for a new fashion monthly called Arianna. She introduced a modern and innovative edge to the magazine, working with her husband Alfa Castaldi (who was later to become one of the most intelligent and respected Italian photographers), and the editor Anna Riva. In the 1970s Anna worked as an “editor at large” for Condé Nast and introduced, with her special reportages, great photographers such as Chris von Wangenheim, Giampaolo Barbieri, and of course Castaldi. From 1981 to 1984 she planned and edited Vanity (Condé Nast), an interesting and sophisticated experiment seeking a new means of expression in collaboration with the great American artist Antonio Lopez. However, the extraordinary drawings and accompanying text presented topics that were perhaps too sophisticated and difficult at a time where consumerism was having a boom. In 1988 Piaggi started a column (which later achieved cult status) for Vogue Italia called “D.P. Doppie Pagine di Anna Piaggi,” which still continues, and resulted in publication of the book Fashion Algebra (Leonardo Arte, 1999) ten years later. The book is packed with characters, hints, cross references, and quotations, all recounted in a very personal, unique, and original style of writing, very well-informed and always avant-garde. This vibrant and receptive journalist-aesthete, sophisticated writer, attentive observer of deeds, misdeeds, events, objects, and famous, up-and-coming or unknown characters, has an international resonance and appeal. She combines a mass of visual stimuli with her sparkling writing in a provocative and lively approach to a variety of arguments covering modern culture and current customs. She was a fashion and society columnist for Panorama for several years (1993-97) and she has also worked on various international editions of Vogue. She wrote a fashion and lifestyle column for L’Espresso PiÇ from 1987 to 1989. The famous fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld (Chloé, Chanel, Fendi) chose her as his muse and he also named a book after her, called Anna-chronique (Longanesi 1986), in which Piaggi is the heroine, featuring in Lagerfeld’s drawings of extraordinary dreamlike events: Piaggi herself wrote the text and Vern Lambert did the research. The book was also published by Thames & Hudson, with the title A Fashion Journal.