Piaggi was born in Milan on 22 March 1931.[1] She worked as a translator for an Italian publishing company Mondadori, then wrote for fashion magazines such as the Italian edition of Vogue and, in the 1980s, the avant-garde magazine Vanity. From 1988 she designed double page spreads in the Italian Vogue, where her artistic flair was given free expression in a montage of images and text, with layout by Luca Stoppini.[2]
She used a bright red Olivetti"Valentina" manual typewriter designed by Ettore Sottsass in 1969.[3] Piaggi had a large clothes collection, including 2,865 dresses and 265 pairs of shoes,[citation needed] according to a 2006 exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. She dressed in an exuberant, unique and eclectic way, never appearing in the same outfit more than once in public.[citation needed]
Piaggi appeared in the documentary Bill Cunningham New York on the New York Times fashion and social photographer Bill Cunningham.[4]
