Volpi

Maria. Italian milliner. One of the few genuine designers of hats, gifted with a lively creativity, sometimes ironic, sometimes grandiose, always with a supreme light touch, with an exquisite sense of color, and with demanding standards of workmanship. In her boutique, not far from Palazzo Carignano, the upper classes of Turin came to call; among those who frequented her, remaining loyal over time, were the actors on tour in the neighboring theater, such as the great Stoppa, who refused to wear anything but Volpi hats. Volpi excelled in particular in her fur busbies, her mink toques. She was discovered by high fashion and by prêt-à-porter, and she showed her work with that of Mila Schön, Irene Galitzine, Cadette, often winding up on the covers of women’s magazines. She died young, in 1979, and her daughter-in-law Marisa carried on her work.