Katie Grand Reveals How Anna Piaggi's Eccentric Style Inspired Louis Vuitton's Latest Collection: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

It was the news that saddened the fashion world and this morning, tributes to Anna Piaggi are still flooding in. The likes of Anna Dello Russo and Stefano Gabbana have already paid honour to the legendary style maven who died yesterday aged 81 in Milan. Grazia Daily spoke to LOVE editor-in-chief Katie Grand about what made Piaggi so unforgettable.

'We've desperately lost one of our great influencers,' she exclusively told us. Grand was so mesmirised by Piaggi that her wonderfully unique style became a huge influence on the most recent Louis Vuitton show. The super-stylist worked with Marc Jacobs to style the French fashion house's Autumn Winter 2012 show and revealed images of the blue-haired fashion stalwart were stuck on the studio wall as inspiration.

Louis Vuitton's Piaggi-esque hat; Anna Piaggi on the cover of Checkered Past

'There was one specific image of Anna from the book Checkered Past that Marc and I referred to,' she explained. On the cover of Checkered Past, a ‪visual diary of London in the '60s and '70s‬, Anna can be seen wearing a fabulously squishy purple headgear with an elaborate gold veil that falls over her eyes. It's easy to see how the fanciful style influenced those larger-than-life hats that graced the Louis Vuitton catwalk. Piaggi's flamboyant flounces also inspired the collection's bejewelled tweed coats, eye-catching prints and sumptuous patchwork dresses that emerged from LV's actual real steam train, which rolled into Paris Fashion Week in March.

Anna Piaggi at Dolce's menswear show; Louis Vuitton's AW12 collection

But there was a more recent outfit that caught the super-stylist's eye. 'Anna looked incredible at the Dolce and Gabbana menswear show in January this year,' Katie said. Yep, ever the style maverick, Piaggi arrived on the front row wearing an enormous blue feathered hat to match her trademark turquoise eyeshadow and walking cane. It was the cherry on top of a multi-coloured trouser suit over a Lagerfeld-like white shirt, black tie and buttoned-up waistcoat. Oh, and let's not forget those mismatched shoes, the leopard print clutch and a hot pink Prada stole.

'What was incredible about Anna's style was how she put things together with complete confidence,' Katie told us. 'She looked stylish but not batty or silly. It was her eccentricity mixed with a couture sensibility that was so inspiring.' There certainly won't be another one like her.

Remember Anna Piaggi's style with our gallery here.