Anna Piaggi the fashion Iqon and the premiere of the documetary on her

Anna Piaggi The Fashion Iqon

And premiere of the documentary "Anna Piaggi" Una visionaria nella moda by Alina Marazzi

FFFMilano presents the preview of the documentary "Anna Piaggi" Una visionaria nella moda on 24 sept. 2016. In the documentary a inside look on the life and carreer of Anna Piaggi and the people around her like Karl Lagerfeld, Manolo Blahnik, Stephen Jones, Alfa Castaldi, Gianni Versace, Castelbajac and others.

(the pictures op the premiere scroll down)
Also at Vogue.it http://www.vogue.it/moda/news/2016/09/07/anna-piaggi-documentario-biopic-fshion-film-festival/

Anna Piaggi

In 1985, I worked as grafic designer and fashion illustrator for Vanity (Conde Nast and not Vanity Fair).This Conde Nast magazine was founded by Anna Piaggi, and the first issues were totally filled with fashion illustrations of Antonio Lopez. There were hardly any photo's in the editorial part of the magazine! This shows the extreme taste and courageous choices of mrs. Anna Piaggi.

In the period I worked for Vanity, Anna Piaggi was not the editor in chief anymore. She worked again, like before, as fashion journalist for Italian Vogue.

Vanity was made in a little room of the office of the Italian Vogue in piazza Castello in Milano. And that was where I saw Anna Piaggi for the first time!
Looking up from my desc, I had a kind of, 'What the hell was that' experience, when I saw Anna Piaggi walking as a fairytale Queen through the corridors of the Vogue building. A fashion fairytale Queen!
I had just left the North European cities with their Punk extremes, and I had hardly got familiar with the more sophisticated classic ways Italians showed. But this was something totaly different!

In the following months that I worked at Conde Nast, I realised that Anna was not a rebel, like the Punks I had seen in the north. After all, most of the Punks followed a pretty well discribed look too.
Everything Anna wore, was chosen very well, origional, and there were reasons for every look she had created. For the day, or for the hour in a day! And with every look, the make-up and hair changed too. She must have had an enormous stock of clothes, make up, and ideas, I realised!

In contrast with her looks, mrs. Piaggi behaved kind of shy. 'Shy' is maybe not the right word to discribe it. She behaved like, there is nothing special about me.
In the Conde Nast building she always greeted very kindly, but short. As we never worked directely together, we kept greeting in this official way for many years. I met her at the Milanese fashion shows and parties. And i met her at the late night events in Milano cult discothec Plastic, where designers as Gaultier and the Dolce & Gabbana's hung around in those days too.
Always she gave a very well ment, 'Come sta ? Fa piacere vederla' ! (how are you? nice meeting you again)
This official way of greeting, and her looks, made it hard to breack trough her inner soul.

In spring 1995 Envelope magazine, created by Plastic Discothec wanted to have Anna on their first issue cover. Anna did not find time to pose for it, but agreed after long trying. She propossed to be photographed at her house in Milano.
She gave us one hour time. Just inbetween two important fashion shows where she had to go to. It was Milano Fashion Week!

Me and Riccardo Giorgio Emilio Slavik (the fashion editor of Envelope Mag.) went to Anna's place.
Her Milano house appeared to be a museum of fashion. All over the place we saw incredible dresses and art works. Photo’s taken by my fashion photography heroes everywhere! Many of them half covered by the many dresses that were hanging everywhere. Suddenly Anna took some drawings from a table. “Look, Karl Lagerfeld drew this the other day”, she said. She showed me the sketch with some new fashion designs. I wondered if she had showed them to me, because she remembered that I had been fashion illustrator?

Anna had one outfit and make-up style prepaired for the shooting. “No more than that”, she said.
The fashion was a La Croix. La Croix was the hottest fashion at that moment! La Croix la Croix, the Absolutely Fabulous Edina screamed it all the times in those days!
I shot two rolls of twelve pics, on the balcony of her house, because there was no time (and space) to put lights inside the house And that was it. Basta!

Riccardo Giorgio Emilio Slavik was not very happy with the choice of the clothes of a french disigner. "Envelope is an Italian magazine, and we are not a classic fashion magazine, we are Envelope. We are fashion night life queens "!, he reminded us, and in some way right he was!
I was pretty happy with the shots we had done so far, but,.......La Croix........la Croix,......yes, not very Italian!

Anyway, Anna had moved allready in her dressing room to get dressed to go to the Versace show. And I started to put my camera and lenses in my bag.
When Anna appeared again, she wore a purple mohawk and looked really discothec cool!

That was the look Envelope needed! We all loved it, and begged her to shoot her like this for Envelope.

“No, this is the look for the Versace show” she said. “Not for the magazine”!

After long begging (2 min. ;) she gave me three shots to take. No flash lights! I shot them again on her balcony.

One of them became the Envelope cover.

Edland Man
7 aug. 2012, revised 22 sept 2016