Manuela Pavesi's legacy: digital archive revives the fashion editor who shaped Prada

Manuela Pavesi (Mantua, 1949 – Milan, 2015), the fashion coordinator for Prada and collaborator of Miuccia Prada, is the subject of a new digital archive created by archivist Davide Rizzini. Pavesi entered the fashion world in 1973 through a Vogue Italia contest, later meeting Prada and sharing an aesthetic affinity for Yves Saint Laurent. Her career as a fashion editor and photographer began in 1986 when Helmut Newton handed her his camera to complete the Pirelli calendar shoot. She went on to work with magazines such as i-D, Purple, Self Service, and Dazed, and shot campaigns for Blumarine. Rizzini, a graduate of Istituto Europeo di Design (IED), recovered her works from digital archives and print magazines despite the lack of credits typical of the era. The archive includes images from collaborations with photographers Albert Watson, Deborah Turbeville, Gian Paolo Barbieri, and Helmut Newton, as well as early Prada and Blumarine campaigns, and a booklet for Pop magazine (2009). A planned tribute exhibition in Mantua never materialized. The archive is now accessible online.