My life, my look. Carla Zampatti. 2016.

Carla was only five when her mother took her to visit the dressmaker in her local small town in Lombardy, Italy. It was then, in a sudden flash of inspiration, that she knew she would become a fashion designer. She was a feisty little girl who had two older brothers - she would run after them up the mountains on their adventures, while they called to her, ‘Dai, Carla, a possibile farlo!’ (Come on Carla, you can do it!) And she never lost that strength even when, as a young girl with no English, she moved with her family halfway across the world to Bullfinch, WA. a tiny dusty speck of a town: a place where her dreams of becoming a designer seemed almost out of reach……

But Carla was determined. At a time when an unmarried woman was not even allowed a bank loan in her own name, she moved to Sydney and started her own fashion label with a $5,000 loan from her cousin, before going on to open her own boutique and establish a nationwide retail chain and a fashion empire. And she did all this as well as raising three children, chairing the SBS board, and being a politician’s and Ambassador’s wife.

Stylemicon, Australian legend. This is Carla Zampatti and this is her inspiring story…..