Earlier we’ve blogged about how art inspires fashion, but how about when the artistic inspiration is a person – a muse? One such person, the Marchesa Luisa Casati, has inspired many writers, painters and also fashion designers .

The Marchesa was born into a wealthy Austrian-Italian family in Milan in 1881. A patron of coutouriers such as Paul Poiret, Mariano Fortuny and Erté and jewellers like Lalique, Casati astonished European society for the first three decades of the 20th century with her eccentric personality and outrageous style. In his autobiography Erté described her as the “the most extravagantly odd woman I have ever met”. She would wear living snakes as jewellery, throw parties where her servants were covered in leafed gold from top to toe and parade her pet cheetahs around in Venice on leashes covered with gold and diamonds whilst wearing nothing but a fur coat. Her hair was a dyed a deep henna red, her skin powdered pale white and her eyes heavily kohled.

The Marchesa painted by Augustus John to the left. Carina Roitfeld as Casati, photographed by Karl Lagerfeld.

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She wasn’t only an inspiration to her contemporaries, more than 50 years after her death she still continues to inspires artists and fashion designers alike. In 2003 the New Yorker wrote an article about the Marchesa. The photograph of Vogue Paris editor Carine Roitfeld dressed as Casati was taken by none other than Karl Lagerfeld. The article also featured sketches by Lagerfeld inspired by Luisa Casati.

Chanel resort collection 2010

Another designer who cites the Marchesa as a major influence is John Galliano. His extravagant haute couture show for Dior in 1998 was inspired by her and cost 2 million dollars to stage. The show was held at Opéra Garnier in Paris and the setting was inspired by the Marchesa’s lavish soirées.

Galliano for Dior Couture 1998

Galliano was also inspired by Casati when he launched his debut fragrance in 2008. The design of the flasque is inspired by this portrait of Casati, painted by Giovanni Baldini.

For his autumn/winter 2004/05 collection, which was named ”a dash of eccentricity”, Armani named Visconti’s movie The Damned, La Belle Époque and the Marchesa as his main influences.

Armani autumn/winter 2004/05

She was also the main inspiration behind Tom Ford’s spring/summer 2004 collection for Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche.

Yves Saint Laurent, spring/summer 2004

The Marchesa is also the theme of a recent editorial shoot in Acne Paper’s fall/winter issue. The shoot features Tilda Swinton and was shot by Paolo Roversi.

Tilda Swinton as the Marchesa in the autumn/winter 2009 number of Acne Paper