Chiara Ferragni

Ferragni was born in the northern city of Cremona in 1987. Ferragni is the oldest of three daughters. Her father was a dentist. Her mother Marina Di Guardo is an Italian writer from Sicily who also worked as deputy director of the Blumarine fashion house. At the age of 16, she was hired by the Beatrice model agency in Milan. She modeled for the agency for a couple of years and then quit, due to "other goals to reach in my life". She started her fashion blog "The Blonde Salad" in October 2009 with an ex-boyfriend, Riccardo Pozzoli. As of 2016, she had not obtained her university degree. Her business ventures grossed about $8 million (mostly from her Chiara Ferragni Collection footwear) in 2014. She appeared on Project Runway as a guest judge during season 13 in August that year. Ferragni was on the cover of the April 2015 Vogue España.

In July 2015, while she was collaborating with Diego Della Valle's company Tod's, she was implicated in the company's trademark infringement scandal when the company was sued for copying a small luxury handbag designer's trademark after an exchange with Ferragni. She was included in Forbes 30 Under 30 the same year. In 2017, Ferragni was chosen to design costumes for the 4th edition of Intimissimi on ice. On 26 July 2017, she opened her first Chiara Ferragni Collection store in Milan. In June 2020, the Italian rapper Baby K released "Non mi basta più" featuring Chiara Ferragni. She and her then-husband Fedez raised €3 million in 24 hours through a fundraiser to support the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan during the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy.

In April 2021, she joined the board of Tod's Group, serving until 2024 when she was removed when she became the subject of the Pandorogate. In May 2021, Ferragni unveiled the Nespresso × Chiara Ferragni collection on her social media. A temporary pop-up cafe was set up in celebration of the capsule. In 2022, she announced the launch of her own line of fragrance with Angelini, the line was abandoned by Angelini after her Pandorogate crimes became public.

During the 2021-2022 holidays, Ferragni partnered with Balocco in 2022 to market a branded Balocco pandoro promising the proceeds would be given to charity but did not make the promised donations. This led to her being engulfed in controversy as the protagonist of the Pandorogate fraud scandal in which she is alleged to have unjustly profited millions of euros while claiming to be raising funds for charity. In March 2024, she was also removed from the board of Tod's as she came under investigation. Angelini also abandoned its line with her.

In 2023, she was required to pay a $1 million fine for fraud by the Italian Competition Authority. In January 2025, she was sent to trial on criminal charges for aggravated fraud in conjunction with the same investigation.

The Pandorogate scandal led to the passage of the Ferragni Law in Italy to prevent future fraud and false advertising by influencers. On 29 January 2025, shortly after the news of the trial for aggravated fraud, Ferragni publicly vented against her ex-husband, accusing him of having always been a false and untruthful person towards her. Ferragni accused him of having had affairs with many other women. In June 2025, it was reported that she was being sued by Safilo for €5.9 million for breach of contract.

Ferragni and Italian rapper Federico Lucia, known as Fedez, started dating in September 2016 and married on 1 September 2018 in Noto, Sicily. They have two children, born 2018 and 2021. They separated in early 2024 after Ferragni was sanctioned for the Pandorogate scandal, and divorced in mid-2025.

Criminal trial

On 29 January 2025, Ferragni was bound over to trial for aggravated fraud, which began in September 2025. In January 2026, a judge ruled that prosecutors had not proven that the fraud was "aggravated" under Italian criminal law, stating that her actions simply constituted fraud. Since the crime of simple fraud requires a complaint to be prosecuted and Codacons had withdrawn its complaint at the end of 2024, Ferragni and Damato were acquitted because Ferragni paid €3,400,000 to all parties involved, and therefore the aggravated fraud charge was dropped because the charges were withdrawn making the case simple fraud. It was unclear if prosecutors would appeal.