Verde visconti biography
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Verde was five years old when her mother, Simonetta Colonna di Cesarò, a glamorous and talented beauty, divorced her father, Gaio Visconti di Modrone, to pursue a career as a mode designer. Gaio, an avant-garde painter and the scion of a dynasty of creative aristocrats (Luchino Visconti, the film director, was his cousin), raised Verde, his only child, in a bohemian household. ‘The divorce was frowned on in Rome,’ says Claudia Ruspoli, a childhood friend. ‘It was unheard of, then, that a little girl be raised by her father,’ adds Isabella Ducrot, who knew her well. At 18, Verde flew to New York and landed a position in the sales department at Bergdorf Goodman. She hated the job but loved America.
In the main bathroom, the tub has a splashback of reclaimed hand-painted tiles. The marble-topped sink cabinet facing it was designed by Verde and made to measure by her team
Los Angeles, where she met the bio producer Richard Roth, one of the greatest admirers of her talents (she
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Visconti, Virida (c. 1354–1414)
Archduchess of Austria . Name variations: Verde Visconti; Virda Visconti; Viridis Visconti. Born around 1354 (some sources cite 1350 and 1351) in Milan, Italy; died in 1414 in Sittich, Karnten; daughter of Bernabo Visconti, lord of Milan (r. 1354–1385), and Beatrice della Scala (1340–1384); sister of Catherine Visconti (c. 1360–1404), and Agnes Visconti ; married Leopold of Habsburg also known as Leopold III (1351–1386), archduke of Austria, Styria, and Carniola, co-emperor of Austria (r. 1365–1379), on February 23, 1365; children: Friedrich IV (b. 1368); William (b. 1369, who married Joanna II of Naples ); Margarethe (1370–c. 1400), margravine of Moravia; Leopold IV (1371–1411); Archduke Ernst or Ernest the Iron (1377–1424, who married Cimburca of Masovia ); Elisabeth (b. 1378); Katharine (b. 1380); Friedrich or Frederick IV (1382–1439), duke of Austria-Tyrol.
Born around 1354 into the ruling family of Milan, Virida Visconti was one of
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The Wardrobe with Verde Visconti
Verde’s own style is as idiosyncratic and unexpected as that of the house she works for. “With Prada, it’s OK to change your mind,” she says. “It’s not that you’re simply allowed to, more that you’re encouraged to. I can be in a meringue dress one day and looking more like a man the next.” Does she take things from the actual menswear collection, then? “A lot!” she says. “Pants, jackets, pyjamas, sweaters… They make me happy and unselfconscious about my body. I can be very clumsy, and I stop worrying about that when I’m in those clothes.”
But whether she’s chosen a man’s jacket, a librarian-like grey sweater-and-skirt combination, or an outfit announced by a hectic pattern, what immediately stands out are the delicate yet strong features of Verde’s face and the long, centre-parted hair that’s often tied into a ponytail. Verde rarely wears make-up and mostly chooses flat shoes. “I’m not very good with my hands,” she says of her lack of inter