THE ETERNAL MUSE: LUISA CASATI

Considered as a “living work of art”, the Italian heiress Marchesa Luisa Casati dressed to shock rather than impress. “Women of today dress alike,” she once said. “Personality is needed. There is too much sameness.” Possessing a flair for the dramatics and OTT frivolity, Casati once drugged a snake and painted it gold, before wearing it as a necklace. Questionable measures aside, take cue from the marchesa, who believed that regardless of the occasion, more is more. In Venice, evening walks with her ocelots would require nothing less than a fur coat, pearls, and a full face of make-up.

Luisa Casati in costume as Empress Elisabeth of DrAesuss,tMriar, kcairrcian1935

Italian marchesa Luisa Casati, whose flair for the dramatics included donning a drug-induced snake as jewellery