Angela Bianchi - Founder & Business Development
Angela Bianchi was born in Udine, in North-Eastern Italy, in 1982.
At the age of 18 she moved to Milan to study PR and Advertising at IULM University and started working as a tradeshow organizer and marketing manager.
In 2007 she discovered Personal Image Consulting and Personal Shopping and got deeper knowledge in the field through specific courses in Milan and abroad. She was also among the founders of the first Milan Chapter of AICI.org (Association of Image Consultants International).
As a personal development path through body self-acceptance she decided to address people with everyday styling needs, to offer her personal styling services. Since 2009 when she started first with a blog and later with a registered agency called VirgoImage, she’s met over 5000 clients from all over the world with different needs, all conducting to the one, same request: “ Support me in building self-confidence and flattering unique beauty through clothes, colors and style.”
In 2014 she decided to quit her job as a TradeShow organizer to dedicate fully to VirgoImage. In the last 6 years she has not only met individual customers but also developed special educational programs for those willing to start a business in personal image consulting or to improve their existing skills: she counts students coming as far as Australia to learn and experience with real clients, how the beautiful job of Personal Image Consultant is carried out in Italy.
Despite her clients being more individuals rather than companies, she can enlist cooperations with Philips, Kiabi, CosaBella, Stilettissimo, Yoox etc…
Fascinated by out-of-the-box approach of young talents, she has favorably embraced mentoring opportunities to international students.
In 2019 she started making research about a more inclusive fashion and got in touch with activists and professionals around the world, committed to embrace diversity in a more positive way. She noticed Italy had not much talk about fashion inclusion and decided to focus her energy in raising awareness and sharing information with the goal to stimulate the fashion and beauty industry to consider all diversities as a beneficial target of their next collections.
During quarantine she has launched the #ShopInYourWardrobe challenge: a game based on using exclusively what in your closet that soon became a metaphor to tapping into one’s inner resources. Some of the interviews that you can find on Youtube and Instagram here have been recorded during this exceptional time.
Today Angela is also the Coordinator of the newest Fashion and Luxury Culture Dpt at the Milan Campus of the European School of Economics, a special program that promotes education, research and projects in fashion and luxury based on authenticity, sustainability and inclusion!