Giorgio di Sant'Angelo

Giorgio di Sant’Angelo’s romantic, body-conscious creations firmly underscored his belief that “vinyl astronaut clothes” were not the future of fashion. Aspects of Sant’Angelo’s background remain uncertain, as the designer was known to fabricate details of his past. While his real name is still in question, it seems clear that he was born in Florence in 1933, and later lived at his grandparents’ home in Argentina. After briefly studying law, Sant’Angelo immersed himself in various private art courses in Buenos Aires, and later received a six-month scholarship to work with Picasso. He was next slated to study animation at Disney—but he was instantly turned off by Disney’s “assembly line” production process.

He found greater artistic inspiration in New York City, where he started to design textiles, furniture, and jewelry. Diana Vreeland soon began to feature Sant’Angelo’s jewelry in Vogue. She also hired the designer to “inspire” magazine editorials with his avant-garde ideas. In 1969, Sant’Angelo presented his first ready-to-wear collection. His fantastical creations were free from zippers and traditional tailoring techniques, and he made liberal use of figure-hugging, stretch fabrics. The designer’s radical, brightly-colored creations from the early 1970s were well attuned to the hippie era, and they received extensive press coverage. By mid-decade, however, demand for his clothing had significantly declined.

The designer continued to make custom clothes and work as an interior designer. He made a comeback in 1987. In his new designs, Sant’Angelo applied his fondness for stretch fabrics to sexy swimwear, as well as to wrap dresses that fit like a second skin. Two years later—and just four months before his early death from lung cancer—Sant’Angelo presented his final collection. It was praised by the fashion press as one of the best of his career.