It was precisely in New York that a very young and almost unknown Biagiotti, who only knew her mother's atelier as far as fashion was concerned, arrived around 1971 to take her first steps into the varied universe of the Big Apple. And from there, between Seventh Avenue show rooms, which are still today the cradle of American fashion, the designer found inspiration, confronted "big" figures and followed the passing of styles and trends. She had some significant experiences and a few years later she could show what she actually carried with her, genetically: absolute style and elegance, in proportions as well as in fabrics.

In 1975, in the magical frame of the Hotel Plaza, she presented the fall/winter collection which set her into the fashion name for the years to come. Among the most significant stages of her career there is also the conferral of the Honour of Cavaliere del Lavoro in 1995; the historic fashion show in Pecking, in 1988, for which 30 models of the Chinese People's Republic presented 125 garments among the most significant of the designer's career.

And more: 1992 Woman of the Year prize in New York; 1995 a fashion show at the Kremlin and in 1997 in Cairo in favour of the Egyptian Red Cross. Still in '97, in the memory of her husband Gianni Cigna, she set up, with Cigna's daughters, the Biagiotti Cigna Foundation, which has received the donation of a collection of 170 works of the Futurist Master Giacomo Balla.

Last, only in order of time, Balmoda: private collection of Laura Biagiotti and Gianni Cigna, largely acquired throughout time by Elica and Luce Balla, daiughters of the painter, which was exhibited in 1996 in Moscow, in the Puskin Museum, and in the 1998-1999 season in Rome in the Cloister of Bramante.  

May.2002

Laura Biagiotti