by Jenny Naylor in New Fashion on Tuesday 6 March 2012

The Marchesa Luisa Casati was an Italian heiress who lived at the start of the last century and is a complete muse of mine. Her imagination and creativity was astounding and through her life she was the muse and patron of numerous artists.

She collected a bizarre and inspiring menagerie of exotic animals including cheetahs that she would walk on jeweled leashes wearing nothing but a fur coat and albino peacocks and ravens that she would dye bright colours. Her only recorded words are ‘I want to be a living work of art’ and she had a strong sense of style, decorating her houses lavishly with white velvet and polar bear furs and dressing in shocking and imaginative ways.