The Bite Magazine - Autumn/Winter 2022 - Issue 32

bitefashion Jada Brookes is enveloped in the Centrale Montemartini museum’s enchanting ambience, capturing the beauty of Laura Biagiotti’s energy-infused collection. Laura showed her critically acclaimed Dolls collection in Dubai, UAE, in 2006, her first in the Middle East. In 2010, she exhibited some of her most significant creations at the Italian Pavilion for the Shanghai Expo. Throughout her ca- reer, Laura has collected accolades such as the Woman of the Year award in New York in 1992, followed by the Mar- co Polo award in Beijing for introducing Italian industry to China in 1993 and the Knights of Labour award for her contribution to Italian fashion in 1995. Other accomplishments included the presidency of the Leonardo Committee from 2000 to 2008, whose members consist of prominent Italians in the fashion, art and cul- ture industries, followed by the Honorary President title in 2009. She was the first designer to receive the prestigious Prix Femmes D’Europe (Women of Europe Prize) in 2001 for her contribution to promoting women’s participation in developing a unified Europe. Another first was the designer compiling a chapter on Italian fashion for the Treccani Encyclopaedia in the 2004 Book of the Year. The same year, she was awarded the Lupa Capitolina by Rome’s mayor. Three years later, she received the Crystal Lion Lifetime Achievement during a gala evening held at the 64th Venice International Film Festival finale. In 2011, she became the first woman honoured with the Leonardo Award by Giorgio Napolitano, President of the Italian Republic. The following year, Laura celebrated her fashion house’s 40th anniversary commemorating her first collection de- but in Florence in 1972. She received the Arte: Sostantivo Femminile Award at the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moder- na (National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art) in Rome in 2013 for her passion for art. Two years later, she received the special career award, Premio Roma, followed by the Premio 100 Eccellenze Italiane for her involvement in promoting the Made in Italy status. Art greatly influenced fashion in the 15th and 16th centu- ries, so Laura Biagiotti contributed profusely. After restor- ing the Marco Simone Castle, she sponsored the restoration of an embroidered cope kept in the Poldi Pezzoli Museum, Milan, which was found to be authentically Botticelli. Un- der her exclusive fragrance line, Laura restored the Cor- doned Staircase of the Capitol designed by Michelangelo. She then donated the new stage curtain to Fenice Opera House, Venice, whose original was destroyed in a fire.