Luisa Casati Marquise, called the empress of style Date of Birth: 23.01.1881 Country: Great Britain

Biography of Luisa Casati

Luisa Casati, also known as the Empress of Style, was an Italian heiress, beauty, muse of poets and artists, and a patron of the arts. She was born in Milan, Italy, the younger of two daughters of Alberto Amman, a wealthy cotton merchant originally from Austria, and Lucia Amman, who had Italian and Austrian heritage. Her father was granted the title of Count by Umberto I.

Luisa spent her childhood in Milan and tragically lost her mother at the age of thirteen. Two years later, her father also passed away. As a result, Luisa and her sister became the wealthiest heiresses in Italy, under the guardianship of their uncle Eduardo Amman.

In 1900, Luisa married Camillo Casati Stampad di Soncino, the Marquis of Rome, and gave birth to their daughter. However, the couple lived separately and officially divorced only in 1924, with Luisa becoming the first Catholic woman in the world to obtain an official divorce. During this time, Luisa maintained a parallel relationship with Gabriele d'Annunzio, a renowned poet of that era.

In 1910, the Marquise settled in the Venieros mansion on the Grand Canal in Venice (now the location of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection) and restored it. For three decades, Marquise Casati was one of the centers of European society, surrounded by a select circle of writers, artists, and actors. She traveled the world, visiting cities such as Paris, London, India, and Capri. Known for her eccentricities, she would take walks with two cheetahs and wear live snakes as accessories, shocking the Venetians. She even held lavish parties in St. Mark's Square. She was a well-known patron of the arts and supported Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Alberto Martini, Giovanni Boldini, Arthur Rubinstein, and many other artists. The unimaginable luxury and exoticism of her soirées became legendary.

Many believe that Luisa's social image was influenced by Cristina Trivulzio, Princess of Belgiojoso, who was rumored to be interested in black magic. Luisa even named her daughter Cristina after her. Luisa had numerous admirers and lovers, including Gabriele d'Annunzio, Marinetti, Robert de Montesquiou, and Jean Cocteau. She was the subject of portraits by Giovanni Boldini, Auguste John, Giacomo Balla, Ignacio Zuloaga, Pavel Trubetskoy, Jacob Epstein, Romaine Brooks, Kees van Dongen, and photographed by Man Ray. Rumors suggest she was the prototype for Isabella Inghirami, the heroine of d'Annunzio's novel "Maybe—Yes, Maybe—No" (1910), as well as La Casinelle in two works by Michel Georges-Michel, "Dans la fete de Venise" (1922) and "Nouvelle Riviera" (1924). She is mentioned in the memoirs of Felix Yusupov and Isadora Duncan, who danced in her palace and was her friend. Over 130 portraits were painted of her.

Luisa inspired Tennessee Williams and Jack Kerouac, and her outfits were designed by Leon Bakst and Pablo Picasso. She supported fashion designers Mariano Fortuny and Paul Poiret. Her motto was "I want to be a living work of art."

After losing her wealth and burdened by debts (her personal debt reached 25 million dollars by 1930), Luisa Casati moved to London, where she lived a rather modest life for many years, without her former splendor. She was buried in the affluent Brompton Cemetery in the Kensington-Chelsea area of West London. Her gravestone bears lines from Shakespeare's "Antony and Cleopatra": "Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale / Her infinite variety." One of the later books published about Luisa was titled "Infinite Variety." Her image continued to inspire Christian Dior, John Galliano, Tom Ford, Karl Lagerfeld, and Giorgio Armani. Her charms were sought to be replicated on screen by Theda Bara, Tallulah Bankhead, Vivien Leigh, Valentina Cortese, Ingrid Bergman, and many others.