Laura Biagiotti, who helped transform her mother's business from a small tailoring shop in Rome to an internationally recognised ready-to-wear fashion brand, died on Friday aged 73, her family and company said.
Biagiotti died in hospital in the Italian capital where she had been in intensive care after a heart attack this week.
Born in 1943 at the height of World War Two, she studied literature and had wanted to become an archaeologist.
Instead, she decided to help her mother, whose small atelier had won a contract in 1964 for the flight attendant uniforms of flagcarrier Alitalia and soon after was commissioned to produce a collection for the U.S. market by Seventh Avenue group.
Biagiotti designed clothes for stars including Ingrid Bergman and Bette Davis while working with stylist Emilio Federico Schuberth in the heady fashion years of the 1960s. She first presented her own ready-to-wear line in 1972 in Florence.
The business later opened its headquarters near Rome's Spanish Steps, where many fashion houses have their showrooms.
She launched a menswear line in 1987 and showed her creations using silk and cashmere in Beijing in 1988, when China was still mostly closed to the outside world.
Biagiotti often took inspiration from the Far East, with some of her most recent collections echoing Asian designs, and she became known as the Queen of Cashmere for her frequent use of that fabric.
The Biagiotti brand, one of the earliest internationally recognised fashion houses to be run by a woman, expanded to include accessories, glasses, children's and home collections, perfumes and sportswear.
In recent years, her daughter Lavinia, vice-chairman of the Biagiotti group, had been running the company, which moved its headquarters to a restored 11th century castle in the countryside east of Rome.
The elder Biagiotti adopted many abandoned dogs and looked after them in the castle's grounds.
In 2012, the company sponsored the restoration of the twin Baroque fountains in Rome's Piazza Farnese, joining other Italian fashion houses which have helped the cash-strapped government spruce up decaying monuments and cultural sites.
Reuters
Fri May 26 2017
Laura Biagiotti acknowledges the applause at the end of the Laura Biagiotti Fall/Winter 2010/11 Women's collection during Milan Fashion Week in 2010. - Photo Reuters/Alessandro Garofalo
Pemain badminton negara pamer kekuatan mental menjelang Piala Thomas, Uber
Pemain negara mempamerkan tahap kekuatan mental dan psikologi yang mantap serta semangat juang tinggi menjelang saingan Piala Thomas dan Piala Uber pada 27 April hingga 5 Mei ini.
AWANI Borneo [19/04/2024] – Perubahan iklim | Kekurangan pakar perubatan | Dipercayai dibaham buaya
Laporan berita padat dan ringkas dari Borneo bersama Fauzi Zin
#AWANIBorneo 19 April 2024
- Abang Jo ke Poland kongsi pengalaman Sarawak urus perubahan iklim
- Sabah mahu autonomi kesihatan seperti Sarawak
- Usaha cari warga emas dipercayai dibaham buaya masih buntu
#AWANInews
#AWANIBorneo 19 April 2024
- Abang Jo ke Poland kongsi pengalaman Sarawak urus perubahan iklim
- Sabah mahu autonomi kesihatan seperti Sarawak
- Usaha cari warga emas dipercayai dibaham buaya masih buntu
#AWANInews
Palestin kecam AS guna kuasa veto halang keanggotaan penuh negara itu dalam PBB
Palestin mengecam sekeras-kerasnya keputusan Amerika Syarikat (AS) yang menggunakan kuasa veto bagi menolak usul Majlis Keselamatan Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu (UNSC) pada Khamis yang menuntut ke
Pengarah Mentega Terbang gagal peroleh kebenaran merayu, perintah larangan bersuara kekal
Panel hakim membuat keputusan itu selepas menolak permohonan Mohd Khairianwar untuk kebenaran meneruskan rayuan bagi mengetepikan perintah tersebut.
Polis tingkat kawalan, penugasan di KLIA
Polis Diraja Malaysia (PDRM) meningkatkan kawalan dan jumlah penugasan pegawai serta anggota di Lapangan Terbang Antarabangsa Kuala Lumpur (KLIA) Terminal 1 dan 2 sejak Selasa lepas.
Titah Adendum di bawah kuasa Lembaga Pengampunan - Anwar
Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim tidak mahu terlibat dengan perbincangan membabitkan titah tambahan berhubung tahanan di rumah membabitkan bekas Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
Sambutan Aidilfitri Madani Peringkat Kebangsaan dI Sabah esok
Sambutan Aidilfitri bertemakan 'Perpaduan Melalui Perayaan' itu akan dirasmikan Yang Dipertua Negeri Sabah Tun Juhar Mahiruddin dan diserikan lagi dengan kehadiran Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim dan Ketua Menteri Sabah Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor.
Pemergian Joseph Kurup kehilangan besar buat negara - TPM
Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof menyifatkan mendian Joseph Kurup sebagai pemimpin yang sangat baik dan banyak menyumbang kepada pembangunan Sabah.
Joseph Kurup guru dan sahabat dalam politik - Hajiji
Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor menyifatkan mendian Tan Sri Joseph Kurup sebagai seorang yang sangat banyak berjasa bukan hanya kepada pembangunan Sabah malah mediang dianggap seperti mentornya dalam politik.
Inisiatif bekalan air bersih di pedalaman bakal jadi tumpuan sidang DUN Sarawak
Empat agensi air di bawah Kementerian Utiliti dan Telekomunikasi Sarawak sedang merangka inisiatif bagi memastikan sasaran 100 peratus bekalan air bersih di seluruh Sarawak menjelang 2030 tercapai.