Italian fashion designer Laura Biagiotti is in a critical condition with serious brain damage after she suffered a heart attack, a Rome hospital said on Thursday.
Biagiotti is in intensive care in the Sant'Andrea hospital and tests are being performed to verify possible brain death, the hospital said.
Seventy-three-year-old Biagiotti went into cardiac arrest at her home on Wednesday evening, according to Sant'Andrea hospital.
Known as the "Queen of Cashmere" for her luxurious knitwear, Biagiotti was one of the first Italian female stylists to become a global brand.
Born in Rome in 1943, Biagiotti wanted to become an archaeologist but ditched her plans to help run her mother's dressmaking business and first presented her own fashion collection in Florence in 1972.
