Australian Dictionary of Biography

Angela Piazza, with her son, 1967

A12111, 1/1967/16/210

Angela Josephine Piazza (1911-1988), hairdresser and beautician, was born on 23 April 1911 at Thiene, Vicenza province, Italy, second of eight children of Francesco Pozza and his wife Teresa, née Villanova. Named Giuseppina, she studied hairdressing for four years at Padua. Showing aptitude and passion for her chosen career, she continued her training as a hairdresser and beautician in Paris in 1932. She returned to her home town and with her sister ran a successful business, Salon Pozza. On 9 December 1936 at Thiene she married Egidio Piazza.

Giuseppina’s brother, Hugh Pozza, had migrated to Adelaide in 1927 and established a tailoring business. His widowed mother, two of his brothers and two of his sisters joined him in 1938. The Piazzas, with their infant son Giorgio (George), migrated in 1948, arriving in Melbourne on 28 November. They too settled in Adelaide. Almost immediately Mrs Piazza acquired the Theatre Beauty Salon, in the Theatre Royal building, Hindley Street. Known as Madame Josephine, she soon acquired a reputation such that clients would queue along the street on Saturday mornings awaiting an appointment. Among her clientele were visiting entertainers, including Winifred Atwell and Marlene Dietrich, and three Miss Australias.

On 28 November 1955 Piazza was naturalised. In 1963 she opened a new salon, named Madame Josephine, in the State Theatre building, also in Hindley Street. Reputed to be the first ‘open space’ salon in Australia, it was planned according to the latest international standards of design and taste, with thirty-four stylists, of Australian, French, Italian and German nationalities. In 1964 she was invited to give a demonstration at an international hairdressing congress held in Paris. At the same time, she learned about new hairdressing techniques and styles. In Turin, Italy, she was awarded the Italian Hair Fashion Council’s gold medal. She was a founding member of the International Hairstylists Society in South Australia (she was made a director in 1966) and of the South Australian Hair Fashion Council. Piazza was a life member of L’Association Internationale des Maîtres Coiffeurs de Dames (ICD) and of the Master Hairdressers Association of South Australia.

Strikingly elegant and impeccably groomed, with flawless skin and softly styled hair, Madame Josephine organised fashion parades and hairdressing demonstrations to aid charities such as the Adelaide Children’s Hospital. Pronouncing that ‘no-one need grow old—look after yourself’, she produced a range of skin care products, Proconat, based on natural ingredients and suited to the harsh Australian climate. In 1982 she moved her salon to new and fashionable premises in Gilbert Place. Widowed in 1971, she died on 14 December 1988 at her Springfield home and was buried with Catholic rites in West Terrace cemetery. George, her only child, survived her and continued running the salon.