Australian fashion icon Carla Zampatti has passed away at the age of 78, after she took a fall last Friday while attending a gala opera event in Sydney.
The celebrated designer was attending the premiere of La Traviata on Sydney Harbour when she fell down a set of steps at Mrs Macquarie’s Point and hit her head.
She was knocked unconscious by the fall and was treated by paramedics on the scene before being transported to St Vincent’s hospital.
It is understood that she never regained consciousness.
Carla Zampatti was born in Italy and moved to Australia with her family in 1950. She produced her first small fashion collection in 1965, before launching nationally two years later.
She went on to create a chain of boutiques across Australia, and was a favorite of local and international dignitaries, from Cate Blanchett and Nicole Kidman to former PM Julia Gillard.
A tribute from her family said that:
“Carla Zampatti has long been celebrated for making Australian women feel confident and elegant through her exceptional design, tailoring and understanding of the modern woman.”
The tribute continued:
“”A champion of Australian women and a multicultural success story, [Carla] continued to thrive as a businesswoman through enormous radical and social change, designing clothes for women fighting for liberation through the women’s rights movement in the 1960s to empowering women today in leadership, the workplace, in their home and at major life events.”
Social media has lit up with numerous tributes for the late designer. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said:
“[The] world will never be the same without Carla Zampatti. Talented, generous and inspiring. A true trailblazer in every respect. Rest In Peace.”
Former PM Malcolm Turnbull wrote:
“[She was] one of our greatest Australians, brilliant, innovative, elegant, creative. Embodying the success of our remarkable multicultural nation.”
Zampatti is survived by three children and per her obituary, was the “proud “Nonna of nine grandchildren.” R.I.P.
