Carla Zampatti has passed away in Sydney

Trailblazing designer and matriarch of the Australian fashion industry has passed away following a fall at the opera.

The most enduring light of the Australian fashion industry has gone out.

Carla Zampatti, considered the matriarch of the local industry, has died, aged 78.

Undeniably our most recognised, revered and awarded designer, she will be widely mourned by not only the fashion industry, but also Australia’s business, arts and political communities, and her legions of loyal fans around the country.

Zampatti had fallen at the opening night of the Australian Opera production of La Traviata on Sydney Harbour last week.

Her death was confirmed in a statement today.

It said, “A champion of Australian women and a multicultural success story, she continued to thrive as a businesswoman through enormous radical and social change, designing clothes for women fighting for liberation through the women’s rights movement in the 1960s to empowering women today in leadership, the workplace, in their home and at major life events.”

She was the much-loved mother of three children, Alexander Schuman, and daughters Allegra and Bianca Spender, from two marriages. She was also the “proud nonna” of nine grandchildren.

Former fashion magazine editor and current ABC chair Ita Buttrose, who was at the same outdoor performance last week, described Zampatti’s fall as “a terrible accident” and her death a “great loss to Australian women”.

Zampatti at her studios in Sydney in 2014.

“I am feeling very sad because I was at the opera. I didn’t see her fall but it was apparent someone had fallen and was only later that I learned it was Carla Zampatti.

“It is a great loss to Australian women, Australian fashion, and Australian business and the community in general because she was quite a unique woman.

Zampatti was a trailblazer in fashion, business and women’s liberation, starting her business at a time when women were unable to have a bank loan in their own name.

Zampatti and husband John Spender, politician and former federal MP for North Sydney.

Zampatti dressed politicians of all stripes.

“Before the 70s, we looked overseas for designs, as there wasn’t really an Australian fashion label that stood out in the crowd,” Ms Buttrose said.

“She was unique in that her style was distinctive. She certainly paved the way for Australian fashion designers and really importantly put Australian fashion on the map.”

This year was her 56th year in business. On the occasion of her 50th anniversary in 2015, Zampatti released an autobiography Carla Zampatti: My Life, My Look, in which she outlined her personal, fashion and family journey.

Carla Zampatti with models in her designs at the Sydney Opera House, celebrating her 50th anniversary in business. Picture: Simon Bullard

The Italian-born designer moved with her family to remote Western Australia as a nine-year-old, already with a dream to be a fashion designer.

She moved to Sydney in 1963, and famously started her business in Sydney two years later with a $5000 loan from her cousin.

From there, she built an empire that made her a household name synonymous with beautiful design and female empowerment.

Zampatti has received recognition throughout her career.

Among her many awards, in 1980 she won the inaugural Australian Business Woman of the Year, and in 2005 she was one of six designers to be celebrated on the Australian Legends postage stamp series; two years later she would design the Australia Post uniforms.

In 1987 she was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia, and, in 2009, a Companion of the Order of Australia.

In 2004, the Italian government appointed her Commander in the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.

Zampatti with The Australian’s fashion editor Glynis Traill-Nash.

In 2008 she was awarded the Australian Fashion Laureate award for lifetime achievement.

She was chairman of SBS for 10 years from 1999 and was on the boards of Sydney Dance Company, MCA Foundation and the Australian Multicultural Foundation, and a trustee of the Sydney Theatre Company Foundation Trust.

The designer had been in the planning stages for her new collection catwalk show, to be shown in May.