Marchesa Casati, 1921

In the early 20th century, Luisa Amman, aka the Marchioness Casati Stampa di Soncino, was a well-known society figure and fashion icon. She defied the social conventions of her time by openly having an affair with the poet Gabriele d’Annunzio. She appeared at parties in exuberant clothes by Paul Poiret and Léon Bakst, accompanied by a boa constrictor or a cheetah on a leash. She used belladonna eye drops to enlarge her pupils, and accentuated this further with striking make-up.

In 1922, Man Ray took a series of portrait photographs of her. These would give momentum to his career as a photograph. He later wrote in his memoirs that the marchioness insisted on being photographed in her hotel suite. But the lighting he installed there caused the power to go out. He then decided to photograph her in daylight. When he developed the negatives afterwards, they were apparently out of focus, and he considered them a failure. But the marchioness absolutely wanted to see some prints anyway, and she was delighted with the result: Man Ray had portrayed her soul, she said. She ordered many prints and showed them to her rich acquaintances, who then wanted to be portrayed by Man Ray as well. So much for the version from the memoirs. In fact, recent research has shown that Man Ray deliberately achieved the blurred effect through double exposure. No doubt he had been inspired by the marchioness’s characteristic eyes.

The Belgian fashion designer Dries Van Noten referenced the Marchioness Casati in his 2016-17 autumn/winter collection. He took her relationship with Gabriele d’Annunzio as guiding principle and presented the couple as one person. In this way, he created a gender fluid collection.