Tag Archives: fashion

When extreme fashion icon and Italian Vogue editor Anna Piagi died last August, she left behind in her cluttered Milan apartment the clothing collection of a lifetime –priceless Edwardian pieces by Poiret, ’20s Chanel dresses, costumes from the Ballets Russes, and an entire wardrobe created in the 1870s for a Roman princess by Charles Frederick Worth, as well as modern day dresses by Dior and Gareth Pugh that she famously mixed with MacDonald’s uniforms and medieval armor. All of which should go to a museum, right? Well, not so fast. Anna didn’t treat her clothes like works of art, she lived in them. She loved them. She wore the hell out of them. This is a woman who famously wore a priceless Fortuny gown as a scarf. ”She was not a fashion curator,” says old pal Karl Lagerfeld, who first met Piaggi in the early ’70s. “She lived with her clothes, old and new, and never paid attention to them in a special way. They were part of her daily life.” Which means they’re in TERRIBLE condition. “When you wear the dress, you also wear it out,” says Pat Frost, director of textiles and costumes at Christie’s. “Its value goes down, and it is much less likely it will end up in a museum.” As of now, Anna’s brother has her collection, but its fate is unsure. Read the entire story of her amazing wardrobe and the possible places it might end up, at The WSJ. One suggestion? LET WORLD OF WONDER DO A REALITY SERIES: Excavating Anna or maybe James Wears Anna.