Carla Zampatti will be honoured with a state funeral

The beloved Australian designer is remembered by friends and women across Australia.

Carla Zampatti photographed at home for Vogue Australia. Picture: Felix Forest

The life of fashion ­designer Carla Zampatti will be celebrated with a state funeral.

While final details are to be released, the offer has been ­accepted by her family, which has asked for privacy after the death at the weekend of the woman who touched the lives of so many Australian women who loved her clothes for every ­aspect of their lives.

Zampatti died in Sydney on Saturday after a fall at the opening night of Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour a week before.

Former governor-general Quentin Bryce, who had known Zampatti since the 1970s, told The Australian a state funeral was well deserved. “Women across our country admired Carla Zampatti, and had a great respect for her,” she said. “She’s never put a foot wrong.”

Bronwyn Bishop, former Liberal senator and another close friend of almost 50 years, said the designer had taken “a leadership role as a woman”.

“She really was a brilliant businesswoman who wanted other women to succeed. Her compassion for others was enormous,” she said.

Most of some 500 messages posted on a memorial page on her company website on Sunday night were from devoted customers.

“A big part of her success was she loved her customers,” Ms Bryce said. “She often spoke about that. She listened to them — that’s why she had a wonderful product.”

Zampatti, a migrant from rural Italy, remained a champion of women in all facets of society, and acted as a role model to those in business, as well as mentoring a new generation of designers.

She was the most accomplished and enduring designer this country has produced, with a slew of accolades to her name, among them the inaugural Australian Business Woman of the Year in 1980, and the Australian Fashion Laureate for lifetime achievement in 2008.

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.