As stated in The New York Times, being featured at the Phoenix Art Museum is one of C. Madeleine’s favorite vintage designers from the groovy hippie era, Giorgio di Sant’ Angelo. The Italian born fashion revolutionary is being showcased with the retrospective exhibition displaying his greatest career highlights.

As the winner of two coveted Coty Awards, Sant’ Angelo lead the 1960s free-spirited era with his innovative use of gypsy, Aztec, and Native American influences in creating his famed exuberant and colorful prints. He was also noted for the application of stretch fabrics with ample adornments that were to drape and frame the female silhouette, revealing the shape of the natural body. Sant’ Angelo was known for saying, “The only silhouette is the body,” expressing his yearning for modern suggestiveness. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Sant’ Angelo continued to explore his design freedom as his collections morphed into more mainstream and romantic looks.

Sant’ Angelo was viewed as more than just your typical fashion designer. Having studied architecture and ceramics in University, he had the enormous privilege to work with such noted artists as Pablo Picasso and Walt Disney. Sant’ Angelo had stated, “I am not a fashion designer but an artist who works in fashion-an engineer of color and form.” Decade after decade, Giorgio di Sant’ Angelo never disappointed the fashion world as he continually reinvented his collections with avant-garde and exhilarating designs.

One of Sant’ Angelo’s most memorable moments was that of the iconic image of high profile fashion model Twiggy on the cover of Vogue circa July 1967. The flower painted around her eye will forever remain in the hearts of fashionistas everywhere.

Another career high for Sant’ Angelo was the 1968 Vogue editorial featuring model Veruschka, his lifelong muse, draped in fur in the Arizona desert. The look has been dubbed, “the nomadic hippy”.

Get your fashion hungry hands on all the finest Giorgio di Sant’ Angelo duds at C. Madeleine’s Online!