Fashion icon farewelled
CARLA Zampatti created her own clothes from the age of 12 and after almost six decades in the industry, the fashion matriarch’s quest for beauty in colours and fabrics was paraded among the hundreds of mourners at her state funeral.
More than 1200 mourners crammed into St Mary’s Cathedral to celebrate Australia’s fashion doyenne, who was knocked unconscious after slipping on steps during the interval of the premiere of La Traviata at Mrs Macquarie’s Point on Sydney Harbour.
Zampatti, 78, failed to regain consciousness and died six days later on April 3, with her three children at her bedside at St Vincent’s Hospital.
Former prime ministers John Howard, Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull, former foreign minister Julie Bishop and media identities Alan Jones, Sonia Kruger and Samantha Armytage were among mourners who heard tributes for Australia’s iconic
designer who fashioned clothes for ordinary people.
“Mum was incredibly warm and affectionate — she loved a hug, called everyone darling and would always hold your hand when you were speaking to her,” her designer daughter Bianca Spender told mourners.
“She offered you champagne and croissants any time of day, and Nutella for the grandchildren, presenting everything on a white cloth.
“She was a nonna of nine grandchildren. Her three youngest, aged four, seven and nine, stayed with her for one of her famous nonna sleepovers the Friday before her fall.
“Their loss of her is hard to bear. But design was her first and true love.
“If she were alive today she would have said ‘this is the best dressed funeral she had ever attended’.”
Zampatti, appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 1987 for service to the fashion industry, launched her first small fashion collection in 1965. Two years later her fashion house was born.
In 2009, she was made a Companion of the Order of Australia for her service in leadership and management in fashion and retail, multicultural broadcasting, and as a role model and mentor to women.