Photo: Captain Catan

Italian fashion icon and style journalist Anna Piaggi, who wrote for Vogue Italia and inspired German designer Karl Lagerfeld, died in Milan on Thursday aged 81.

Piaggi, who was famous for lighting up the front rows of fashion shows from Paris to New York with her eccentric style, eye-catching blue hair and theatrical make-up, was credited with shaking up the fashion world.

Lagerfeld, creative director at fashion houses Fendi and Chanel, revered her creations, once writing that "Anna invents fashion. She automatically dresses herself as we will dress ourselves tomorrow."

In 2006, London's Victoria and Albert Museum put on an exhibition of Piaggi's extensive wardrobe collection, including thousands of dresses and wildly patterned tunics that she often wore in her trademark layering style.

Piaggi died at home in the Italian style capital of Milan, Vogue Italia said in a statement on its website. It did not give the cause of her death.