Laura Biagiotti, an Italian Fashion Designer known as the "Queen of Cashmere," died Friday in Rome after a heart attack at age 73.
Biagiotti had a heart attack on Wednesday evening at her estate near Rome. Doctors worked to resuscitate her, but serious brain damage had occurred by the time they were able to do so, USA Today reported.
Biagiotti's daughter Lavinia Biagiotti Cigna, the creative director of Biagiotti's fashion house, tweeted the news of her death with a scripture verse: "In the house of my father there are many places. If not, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you."
Biagiotti was known for creating comfortable, loose clothing with soft textures, including plus-size and men's clothing lines, USA Today reported. She began designing in the 1960s. In 1988, Biagiotti was the first Italian designer to do a fashion show in China, and in 1995 she was the first to have a show inside the Kremlin in Moscow, the New York Post reported.
Biagiotti got her start helping her mother run her dressmaking business and traveled often to the U.S. to learn business and technology. She showed her first collection in Florence in 1972 after collaborating with Shubert and Capucci on earlier collections, the Post reported.
"Being a fashion designer is like taking vows. It becomes your religion for life," she said in 1987, the Post reported.
Many fans and friends memorialized Biagiotti on Twitter.
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