MILAN, Italy — Italian stylist and fashion muse Marta Marzotto has died following a brief illness at the age of 85.

Marzotto's granddaughter, Beatrice Borromeo, announced the death on Twitter Friday, while her youngest son, Matteo Marzotto, told reporters that she was ready with a joke until the end.

Born Marta Vacondio, she met and married Umberto Marzotto, a count and co-owner of the Marzotto family textile business, in the 1950s. They had five children before divorcing. A former model, she designed a clothing line in the 1990s for the Standa department store.

Marzotto was the muse of the painter Renato Guttuso in the 1960s. Decades later, she ended up in legal trouble for reproducing some of his works without the rights, but an appeals court cleared her in 2011.