Lately I've been intrigued by the story of heiress, muse and fashion legend Marchesa Luisa Casati. I'm reading her biography Infinite Variety. Although her history isn't well known to most, she's inspired many a modern fashion line and photo shoot. To read about her life is to enter a world of the strange and marvelous...
She dazzled everyone she met and shocked turn-of-the-century Europe. She wore live snakes as jewellery and was infamous for her evening strolls; naked beneath her furs whilst parading cheetahs on diamond-studded leads. Nude servants gilded in gold leaf attended her. Bizarre wax mannequins sat as guests at her dining table, some of them rumoured to contain the ashes of past lovers.
Everywhere she went, she set trends, inspired genius and astounded even the most jaded members of the international aristocracy. Without question, the Marchesa Casati was the most scandalous woman of her day.
According to her biography, the marchesa’s personality was captured in one form or another by nearly every important artist of her day: Guiglio de Blaas, Gabriel D’Anunnzio, Giovanni Boldini, Catherine Barjansky, Kees Van Dongen, Augustus John, F.T. Marinetti, Erté Alberto Martini, Baron Adolph de Meyer, Roberto Montenegro, Joseph Paget-Fredericks, Man Ray, Hans Henning von Voigt (the famed Alastair), Cecil Beaton and Dali. Whew!
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