A Taste of Giorgio di Sant’Angelo’s Visual Feast

The designer Giorgio di Sant’Angelo’s undeniable talents and creativity, and his trust in his own vision steered him through a dazzling array of opportunities in the arts throughout his life. He received a degree in architecture from the University of Florence, went on to study industrial design, and apprenticed with Pablo Picasso after winning first prize in a ceramics competition. He animated a short film that led to another apprenticeship with Walt Disney in Los Angeles, and worked as a textile and interior designer in New York City, living in a Park Avenue apartment that was decorated with modular furniture he designed and made himself. 

Giorgio di Sant’Angelo’s iconic designs ushered in the look of the 1960s Flower Power era, blending heavy references to the traditional dress of indigenous cultures, ideas from mythology and classical art, and the lifestyle of the hippie culture.

In this Vogue cover, shot by Richard Avedon, di Sant’Angelo encapsulated the playful DIY insouciance of the times, by drawing a flower around Twiggy’s eye that echoes those on her elegant coat, mixing whimsy with style.

While working in textiles in New York, the designer brought home some pieces of Lucite plastic and fashioned them into geometric jewelry. These caught the eye of Diana Vreeland, then editor at Vogue magazine, who hired him to be a stylist, and later encouraged him as an accessories designer, and finally as the designer of his own eponymous clothing line.

Such was Vreeland’s faith in di Sant’Angelo’s talents as a stylist and designer, she set up a collaboration with the striking world-famous model Veruschka, and her boyfriend, the photographer Franco Rubartelli. The three were sent into the Painted Desert of Arizona to create a fashion story for the magazine, using only fabrics, wires, ribbons, and tape that were artfully wrapped around Veruschka’s body and set against the stark landscape. The results are some of the most iconic fashion photography images from the era, and the trio went on to successfully collaborate together on photoshoots around the world.

A 1969 Life Magazine article described di Sant’Angelo’s designs as, “Costumes around which women can build their own plots...”. He designed clothing that redefined mainstream culture’s idea of the woman’s silhouette, eschewing zippers and buttons, boxy traditional shapes and tailoring, preferring instead to drape, wrap, knot, and belt clothing directly on the body for a more natural shape. He remained relevant as a bold, innovative designer into the 1970s, and became a pioneer in the production and use of knitwear and stretch fabrics in clothing. His bodysuits and evening wear dresses showcased the body, while allowing a freedom of movement that was equal to the heady lifestyle of the disco era. He reportedly said, “The only silhouette for 1971 is the body...”.

Inspired by the Bauhaus movement in Vienna in the early 20th century, Giorgio di Sant’Angelo had a dream of ''...architects and fashion designers working together in a studio, sharing their thoughts, and developing a decided style.'', and although di Sant’Angelo passed away before he could see this dream become a reality, his life and career path, which traversed such a vast array of artistic disciplines, makes it clear that he embodied this ethos in himself, with his cross-discipline designs always culminating in the creation of beautiful shapes, no matter the medium. 

If you’re still hungry to learn more, the following articles are great reads: the original 1969 Life magazine feature on Georgia di Sant’Angelo, and an interview with Franco Rubartelli in Vogue magazine.

Images courtesy of Vogue, Franco Rubartelli, Richard Avedon, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, LACMA, Condé Nast, Dazed Digital, & Bert Stern.