Madeleine Vionnet: "The Architect Among Dressmakers"

The names of Chanel and Schiaparelli are usually the first to spring to mind when we think about the 1930s, arguably the most exciting era in fashion history.  In comparison, few are familiar with Madeleine Vionnet who was at the forefront of this decade.  This woman was more than just the designer who introduced the revolutionary bias cut, she's one of the most influential designers of the last century.  

Born in France, 1876, Vionnet first apprenticed as a seamstress at the age of 11.  Married at 18, she left her first husband the following year to work in London as a hospital seamstress.  She returned to Paris and trained at famed fashion house Callot Soeurs and then designed for the Doucet Salon until 1911.  In 1912, she opened Maison Vionnet.  Global fame arrived in the 1920s with her sensational bias cut technique where the cloth was cut diagonally to the grain of the fabric.  This allowed the material to softly shape and cling to the body giving an overall sleek and flattering look.

Vionnet hated corsets, padding, darts and any other unnecessary adornments.  She preferred to accentuate a woman's natural curves.  Inspired by Greek art, her garments were fluid on the body without distorting it's shape which allowed for flowing movement and comfort - a feat in itself when you consider the stiff corsets and under dress layers of the day.  She used uncommon materials like satin and crêpe de chine and would order fabrics two yards wider than needed to accommodate draping.  Although her styles appear to be simple, much work went into each creation. Vionnet would first prepare the original design on a doll before making the life-size version. 

            

Vionnet was very much a woman ahead of her time.  She actively fought for copyright laws in fashion.  In 1923, she co-founded the first anticopyist association and established another in 1929.  So adamant was she on authentication that her label featured her signature with an imprint of her right thumb.  In 1925, Madeleine Vionnet Inc. on Fifth Avenue was the first French fashion house to open in New York.  The shop carried easily sized styles with unfinished hems that could be custom altered.   She is also believed to be responsible for the first haute couture prêt-à-porter line (ready to wear) for US wholesale.  These were labeled “Repeated Original” along with her signature.        

At it's height during the 1930s, Maison Vionnet employed 1200 seamstresses.  The benefits she extended to her employees were far from the standard labor practices of the day.  She offered paid holidays, daycare and maternity leave.  On the premises was a clinic with a resident doctor and dentist as well as a dining hall and gym.  Like those copyright laws, these benefits were all unheard of a century ago.

Vionnet lived like a hermit who shunned the fashion world and the spotlight.  She said,"Insofar as one can talk of a Vionnet school, it comes mostly from my having been an enemy of fashion. There is something superficial and volatile about the seasonal and elusive whims of fashion which offends my sense of beauty."  The House of Vionnet closed at the onset on WWII and though she would act as a mentor for future designers, she retired completely from the fashion world saying she "had nothing more to say" even though she lived until 1975.  

The house was reopened in 1996 by the Lummen family with a line of accessories and perfumes.  Their first clothing collection was launched Spring/Summer 2007 under the direction of Sophia Kokosalaki who was replaced by Marc Audibet that same year.  In 2009 it took another direction when Matteo Marzotto (formerly of Valentino) acquired the label.  It's been a rough start for sure but that same year Vionnet dresses made a long overdue return to the red carpet courtesy of Hilary Swank.

Madeleine Vionnet lives on through those B&W photos of the Hollywood actresses we most associate with glamour like Mae West who was a huge fan of her bias cut.  Among her other creations were the handkerchief dress, cowl neck and halter top; mainstays of both the Paris runways and dress racks at Walmart.  Not too many designers can make that claim and truly, every single one of her gowns can still be worn today.  

Sensual, elegant, sleek, feminine and timeless are the words we use to describe her creations.  Madame Vionnet said it best: "When a woman smiles, her dress must smile with her."  

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The Grande Dame of Hollywood Fashion: Edith Head

With her fringed black bangs, chignon and oversized owl glasses, Edith Head was certainly the last person you would expect to see in the fashion world.  Yet in her 57 years as a costume designer, she proved to be one of the most influential women in American fashion history.  Her career garnered her 8 Oscars and 35 nominations, more than any other woman.  Even if you've only seen a few movies from Hollywood's Golden Age, the chances are good you were drooling over her designs. 

 

With a BA in Spanish and an MA in Romance Languages, Edith had been teaching at the Hollywood School for Girls.  A poor illustrator, she borrowed fellow students' sketches from her evening art class for a job interview at Paramount Studios in 1924.  Incredibly, desite her inexperience and inability to sew, she landed the job.  She worked on her first film in 1925 and in 1938 she was made Paramount's Head Designer.  Public recognition first came with Dorothy Lamour's sarong dress in The Hurricane (1937).  In 1967 she went to Universal Studios where she won her final Oscar for The Sting (1973).  In all, she worked on 1,131 films. 

  

Edith was somewhat conservative in her designs compared to contemporaries like Adrian.  She understood film production well and often clashed with directors who disliked her restrained styles.  To her credit, her clothes never stole a scene but rather blended perfectly into the big picture.  Alfred Hitchcock loved having her on set because she avoided those fads that would instantly date a movie.  Always in tune with production, her trademark sunglasses were originally framed blue glass lenses that enabled her to see how clothing would look in black and white. When color became the norm, the blue lenses were replaced with a regular tint. 

 

 

 

Edith's eyewear and hairstyle would be her signature look until her death in 1981.  The look was just as low key as her personality.  Though she knew all the secrets, she never gossiped nor did she ever reveal a measurement.  She claimed, "I accentuated the positive and camouflaged the rest".  Actresses loved being dressed by Edith because she worked closely with them and was often loaned out to other studios at their request.  

 

Mae West She Done Him Wrong 1933

Grace Kelly Rear Window 1954

 

Later in her career, she was criticized for taking credit for others' work on the Sting and Sabrina (1954).  Givenchy had designed Audrey Hepburn's gowns in Sabrina but Edith refused to allow his name in the film credits.  She claimed she took his designs into consideration and created her own versions.  The Academy decided it was Edith who produced the finished costumes for the film.  She did however thank him in her acceptance speech.  Actress Debi Mazar put it best; "When Givenchy looked at Audrey Hepburn, he saw Audrey Hepburn.  When Edith Head looked at Audrey Hepburn, she saw Holly Golightly."  While Audrey would choose Givenchy to design her future costumes, Debi makes a great point.  When Edith dressed you, she considered the woman and the role which is exactly why she excelled at her job.

 

While Givenchy designed for Sabrina, Edith takes the credit for this beauty worn by Hepburn in Roman Holiday.

 

Not only did Edith dress the stars, her Vogue sewing patterns sold into the millions globally.  She wrote an autobiography and two advice books.  Her must read is How to Dress for Success, first published in 1967 and recently reissued.  Edith claimed, "Good clothes are not a matter of good luck" and this book proves it.  It provides timeless advice and you'll be impressed by her no nonsense and humorous approach to what you should be wearing and how to avoid the wrong buys.  

 

Edith is still with us today.  For those too young to remember her, check out Disney's The Incredibles.  They couldn't get the rights to her image so her name is Edna Mode but the character is true to life.  Edith's design for Elizabeth Taylor's white strapless ball gown in A Place in the Sun (1951- shown right) sent retail sales for prom dresses soaring when department stores copied it.  To this day, teenage girls dream about wearing one.  Her sarong is never absent from summer lines and the runways are once again overflowing with her style owing to the hit series, Mad Men.  Edith Head was a remarkable woman who has certainly earned her regal place in American fashion history.

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Annie Londonderry: The "Globe-Girdler"

Unarguably, the development of the safety bicycle in the late 1880s had a huge impact on women's liberation and clothing.  The "rational dress" movement advocated more suitable clothing for cycling and swimming so the corsets and ankle-length skirts were abandoned for bloomers and less cumbersome garments much to the shock of an overly modest Victorian society.  Suffragists everywhere encouraged women to ride.  In 1896, Susan B. Anthony claimed bicycling had “done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world."  But before that, it was a woman you've probably never heard of who was most influential in demonstrating the freedom cycling could bring.

Annie Londonderry was born Annie Cohen Kopchovsky.  On June 25, 1894, in front of a crowd of 500 at the Massachusetts State House on Beacon Street, Annie embarked on what the New York World newspaper deemed “the most extraordinary journey ever undertaken by a woman" - a 15 month bike ride around the world!  It's hard to imagine a 23 year old Jewish immigrant leaving her husband and three young children to attempt such a feat but Annie wasn't your typical Victorian woman.  She was free-spirited and brazen yet charming with a sharp instinct for business.  Oh, and she had never ridden a bicycle...

This challenge to ride around the world and earn $5000 during the 15 month tour began with a bet between two Boston men's club members questioning a woman's ability to be independent.  Annie accepted this supposed wager (this story has never been confirmed) and her prize would be $10,000 if she succeeded.  She had a few brief riding lessons and left with only a change of underclothes and a pearl handled revolver.  In Chicago, she traded her women's 42lb single gear Columbia bicycle for a more suitable 21lb men's Sterling.  The bike had no brakes (OMG!) and made riding in skirts impossible so she donned bloomers but eventually changed into men's garments altogether.  She arrived at Le Havre, France on December 3, 1894 and reached Marseilles two weeks later to public acclaim.  Riding through countries like Egypt, Jerusalem, Yemen, Japan, China and Singapore, she returned to America via San Francisco March 23, finally reaching Boston September 24, 1895.  

Her first sponsor was the Londonderry Lithia Spring Water Co. who paid her $100 to carry it's placard on her bike and change her surname to Londonderry.  She earned the rest of the required $5000 through public appearances, photographs, giving lectures while on tour and by using her bike as a billboard for advertisers.  

There was much controversy as to whether she really had ridden her bicycle the entire way.  In truth, she had only cycled across parts of the US and France and took steamships and trains the rest of the way but kept that fact out of the papers.  (Meanwhile, I couldn't pedal to the corner store if my life depended on it.)  She was criticized for traveling "with" a bicycle rather than "on" one.   Peter Zheutlin, author of Annie's bio, expresses that perhaps there was no minimum cycling time rule stipulated in the contract and Annie used the loophole to her fullest advantage.  She did compete in local cycling races while touring but I don't believe Annie was trying to break into the Olympics, this wasn't about the sport, this was business.

Annie's success was mostly in part due to her keen business sense.  She helped pioneer not only the changing views of women's sportswear but also of women's sports marketing.  She had a job selling ads for Boston newspapers and was familiar with advertising and media.  Annie knew self-promotion was key and was happy to overlook facts or embellish the truth for a good story.  An incident in which she met with a road hog in California turned into a near death experience in the press and the papers ran stories about bandits and treacherous traveling conditions.  She claimed she suffered a minor gunshot wound in China and was robbed in Marseilles, France.  The latter incident she later had staged for a lantern slide image showed two men pointing rifles at her as she sat horrified on her bicycle.  Annie had a collection of 75 slides shown during her paid lectures.  She sure knew how to tell a story!

Annie took her $10,000 and moved her family to NY to write features for the New York World under the byline “The New Woman”, the feminist ideal that called for women to fight the restraints of a male dominated society.  She wrote, “I am a journalist and a 'new woman' if that term means that I believe I can do anything that any man can do.”  Being part of the bicycle craze that swept the nation, her fame passed quickly and she died in obscurity in 1947.

Annie Londonderry inspired women everywhere to shed their corsets for freedom and courageously helped to usher in a whole new era of fashion and thought.  Whether she pedaled 10 or 10,000 miles makes no difference.  To do what she accomplished 115 years ago is no small feat and it's hard to believe her story has been forgotten.  Thankfully, there is a documentary slated to be released this summer based on (her great-grandnephew) Peter Zheutlin's book, "Around the World on Two Wheels".  I can only hope so because Annie's tale simply needs to be told.

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Main sources:
http://www.annielondonderry.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annie_Londonderry

You can follow the film's progress at @thenewwomanfilm or on FB at
http://on.fb.me/yo4HCg

The One and Only Coco Chanel

"Fashion fades, only style remains the same" declared the most famous fashion designer in history.  Coco Chanel's name is synonymous with elegance and luxury.  Her story is not only interesting, it's unexpected.  She fits in perfectly with the independent women I love to write about who possessed tenacity.  They never gave up which is why they succeeded.  You may or may not like her story, but you'll have to admit; what a woman!

She was born Gabrielle Bonheur in France, 1883, despite her claim it was 1893.  Her mother died when she was 12 and her father soon abandoned Gabrielle and her five siblings.  She spent the next 6 years of her life at an orphanage and at 18, she left for Moulins and became a cabaret singer.  It was at this time she adopted the name Coco which she said was short for cocotte, French for mistress.

  

It was a suitable name for she had met Étienne Balsan, a young textile heir who let her open her first millinery shop in 1909 on the ground floor of his Parisian apartment.  His friend, Captain Arthur Edward 'Boy' Capel, a wealthy English polo player, financed her new shop in 1910, Chanel Modes at 21 Rue Cambon.  Chanel despised the oversized chapeaux of the day and asked, "How could a brain function normally under all that?".  In defiance, she created the trim boater hat.  Sucess came quickly when celebrated actress Gabrielle Dorziat modelled her hats in a 1912 play.  Clothing was added
in her second boutique in Deauxville, 1913, followed by Chanel-Biarritz in 1915. 

  

Chanel realized early the influence the wealthy and aristocracy would have on her success and wisely chose these affluent resort areas.  There were no casual sporty collections for women when Chanel introduced jackets, jumpers and the popular sailor blouse.  In 1916, she recreated jersey, the material mostly used for men's undergarments.  Her loose fitting three-quarter length jersey overcoat was an instant hit.  Chanel primarily chose the fabric because it was inexpensive and available even in wartime.  However, it was also because she enjoyed wearing her lovers' clothing which she found comfortable.  This idea would help shape her style as Chanel loved to incorporate masculine elements into her designs and created garments that could be worn all day; simple and functional with ease of movement.  

So successful was she that by 1916 the combined staff of her fashion houses totalled 300. It was reported that she paid back her start-up monies despite these being gifts and not loans.  Chanel was often criticized for her work habits; in short, she was a tyrant.  She preferred to work directly with the fabric on a body rather than sketch the design first on paper.  Her models had to stand for long hours and endure repeated alterations.  It's been said that she was particularly obsessed with the sleeves which she wanted to move easily yet still be in line with the garment.  Only attracted to powerful men, she drew inspiration from her many lovers.  The Russian period collection which featured the popular peasant blouse was a product of an affair with Grand Duke Dimitri in 1920.  During her romance with the Duke of Westminster from 1926-31, she adopted tweeds and berets into her collections.

   

The House of Chanel made it's permanent address at 31 rue Cambon across from the Hôtel Ritz in 1919 where, along with Vionnet, she helped create the flapper look while taking it a step further by shortening the hemline.  The boutique offered such innovations as flannel blazers, straight skirts and long jersey sweaters.  The elegant Chanel suit was introduced in 1923 and featured a knee-length skirt with a gold link chain, boxy jacket, braided trim and gold buttons.  

At this time she popularized the "little black dress" which already existed but Chanel set the new standard.  The most versatile of all clothing, it could be worn day and evening when accessorized accordingly.  Chanel claimed the color black "wipes out everything else around...It is the absence of colors which has absolute beauty".  In 1924, her first costume jewelry appeared, a pair of pearl earrings, one black and one white.  She revolutionized the jewelry that was once only bought by those who couldn't afford the real thing.  In 1929, her new slacks were elitist wear but soon women worldwide would embrace the liberating garment.  

It's worthy to note that aside from her slacks worn by actresses like Marlene Dietrich and Katherine Hepburn, Hollywood didn't contribute much to her success in the early years the way it did her contemporaries.  In 1929, Studio Head Sam Goldwyn offered Chanel one million dollars to work on three films between 1931-32 provided she made two trips a year to Hollywood.  The Depression had lowered female theater attendance and he thought the latest Parisian fashions would lure them back.  Chanel accepted but she disliked the town.  Not only was she second to the stars, many actresses refused to wear her costumes preferring the sensational to her understated elegance.  It wouldn't be until later in her career that she would attract actresses like Audrey Hepburn who, in 1961's "Breakfast At Tiffany's", truly made the little black dress the mainstay it is today.

 

Within two years of opening at 31 rue Cambon, Chanel's most enduring product line was launched.  Coco claimed she invented Chanel No. 5 in 1919 while on the French Riviera where she had been mourning the sudden death of Boy Capel.  In truth, it was created by perfumer, Ernest Beaux, introduced to Chanel by then lover, Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich.  The perfume was a mixture of 128 ingredients with a jasmine base.  (It is unknown whether Chanel used her lucky number five or if it was the test sample number she chose - she loved the intrigue.)  She designed the simple square-cut bottle in contrast to the elaborate decanters of the day.  
 
Theophile Bader (French department store founder, Galeries Lafayette) introduced her to Pierre Wertheimer who agreed to finance Parfums Chanel.  Wertheimer received 70%, Bader 20% and Chanel a meager 10%.  Chanel resented the deal and when renegotiation attempts failed, Wertheimer reminded her that not only did he finance everything, he made her a very wealthy woman.  Indeed, Chanel No. 5 remains the world’s top-selling perfume with ten million bottles sold a year.  Gratitude of course must be paid to Marilyn Monroe who sent sales soaring when she claimed it was all she wore to bed in 1953.  

The grand fashion houses were forced to close at the onset of WWII in 1939.  Though her perfumes and accessories could still be purchased in her boutiques, Chanel retired from fashion and moved into the Hôtel Ritz with Nazi officer Hans Gunther von Dincklage.  At this time she also tried unsuccessfully to wrangle Wertheimer's share in Parfums Chanel under a Nazi law which prohibited Jews from operating a business.  As can be imagined, none of this made her too popular with the Parisians.  She was arrested in 1944 for other alleged Nazi collaborations but was rescued by Prime Minister Winston Churchill, a friend she had made through the Duke of Westminster.  During the trial she claimed she wasn't aware of Dincklage's nationality.  Never at a loss for words and feeling she owed no apology for the affair, she quipped to the judge, "Really...a woman of my age cannot be expected to look at his passport if she has a chance of a lover."  The damage was done though and Paris scorned her; Chanel immediately fled to Switzerland with her lover.

Wertheimer had fled to America with his family at the onset of the war and returned to Paris in 1945.  She decided to create her own perfumes in Switzerland which Wertheimer believed infringed on his rights.  To avoid another court battle, they agreed to a $400,000 settlement plus 2% of all sales which she eventually exchanged for a monthly payment she used to support herself.  I suppose the irony here is that Chanel had no other choice but to ask Wertheimer to financially back her re-opening in 1954 which cost her the 10% stake she still had in Parfums Chanel.  Soon after, he bought Bader's 20% share and ended up with everything.  Regardless, the arrangement paid off handsomely in the end for Chanel with the tremendous success of the new House of Chanel.  

Incredibly, at the age of 71, she returned to Paris.  The fashion business, once dominated by women like Vionnet, Lanvin and Schiaparelli had become a man's world led by Dior, Givenchy and Balenciaga.  Her opening on February 5 drew severe criticism and it would take her three years to get back to the top.  Though the Parisians were cold, the British and the Americans loved her collections.  This decade would see her relaunch her Chanel suit and she worked with jeweler Robert Goossens to create a line of costume jewelry to complement her designs.  In February of 1955, she produced the Chanel chain-strapped, quilted leather handbag that is still known as the "2/55" bag.  She ventured into men's fragrances and other great successes included pea jackets and bell bottom pants for women.

 

I just have to mention the "Pink Suit".  Jacqueline Kennedy's pink boucle wool suit trimmed with a navy blue collar was from Chanel's 1961 fall/winter collection.  Kennedy critics were complaining about her expensive French tastes and Jack wanted her to buy American so  on the sneak she had the NY dress salon, Chez Ninon, sew them for her using materials supplied by Chanel Paris.  Though the clothes didn't cost any less the critics were appeased; Jackie had outfoxed them.   

Worn in Dallas, November 22, 1963, she didn’t take the suit off for a day and a night.  When the President's secretary laid out a fresh dress for her, she refused to put it on saying, "Let them see what they've done to Jack."  It has been stored ever since in the National Archives and remains splattered with her husband's blood. 

Today, the House of Chanel is a multi-billion dollar business and is still privately owned by the Wertheimer family.  Karl Lagerfeld has been the chief designer since 1983 successfully combining Chanel's traditional look with innovation.  I think she would have taken pride in the fact that the House of Chanel has sole control over it's brand name and refuses to license it out.  Oh yes, she would be proud indeed.

Main Sources:

Coco Chanel - The Legend and the Life, Justine Picardie, 2010, HarperCollins Publishers

*Other research came from several online and book sources too numerous to list aside from the above.  There are many variations of the truth but once I began researching, a timeline fell into place and it became easier to separate fact from fiction.  I can only hope Ms. Chanel would be pleased with my interpretation of the facts.

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The Diving Venus & The Bathing Suit

There are many courageous women of yesteryear who laid the groundwork for the feminine ideals of today.  Their contributions can never be underestimated and yet sadly they are often forgotten.  Let's take a brief look at the history of bathing attire and at one such woman who challenged the decency laws of the day by daring to wear a one-piece suit.

One of the earliest forms of bathing attire appears on ancient wall murals in Pompeii depicting Greek women wearing two-piece bikini style suits.  The attire didn't resurface until the mid-1800s when the advent of railroads sent Victorians flocking to beaches and resorts.  Before this, proper seaside wear consisted of a white cambric or pale pink muslim gown over pantalets trimmed to match the dress.  1860 saw heavy flannel "paletot" dresses paired with bloomer styled turkish pants.  In 1890, women wore black knee-length wool dresses with puffed sleeves and sailor collars over drawers or bloomers.  Long black stockings and lace-up slippers completed the ensemble and ensured that like it's predecessors, no part of the body would be left exposed.  By 1910, women were no longer content to simply bathe or jump waves and became more active in water sports alongside the men.  The new one-piece suit allowed for freedom of movement and more sun exposure. 

This era was ushered in by a woman bold enough to wear the shocking swimsuit that would have her arrested for indecent exposure.  Annette Marie Sarah Kellerman was born in Marrickville, NSW, Australia on July 6, 1887.  Infantile paralysis required her to wear steel braces from an early age so her parents enrolled her in swimming classes.  By the age of 15, she had overcome her disability to win her first swimming competition and she went on to set Australian records.  At 18, she became the first woman to try to swim across the English Channel, remaining unsuccessful after three attempts.  

Kellerman performed an aquatic act in a glass tank that featured high diving, stunts and the underwater dancing that was to become the sport of synchronized swimming.  Her act debuted in Melbourne and continued on to London in 1905 and New York, Chicago and Boston in 1907.  In London, forbidden to show her legs, she invented the "unitard" by sewing black stockings onto a boy's short racing swimsuit.  In America she left her legs bare and was arrested on Revere Beach in Boston.  She declared to the judge, "I want to swim...I can't swim wearing more stuff than you hang on a clothes line." Agreeing with Kellerman, the judge dismissed the case.  She was dubbed the "Diving Venus" owing to her physical resemblance to the Venus de Milo. 

This one-piece suit became known as the maillot pantaloon.  It already existed but was only used as a pin-up costume in risqué fake beach studio photos.  Kellerman was the the first woman to actually wear one in public.  Her fame soared with her arrest and she went to Hollywood in 1909, starring in a 20 minute Vitagraph film showcasing her aquatic act.  Several films followed but her most famous role was in A Daughter of the Gods (1916).  Shot in Jamaica, it was the first film to cost over a million dollars.  It was a box office hit for one very simple reason; the attractive Kellerman was a nude goddess.  Though Andrea Munson was the first woman to appear nude in a movie, not only was Kellerman more famous but the film was a huge production viewed by far larger audiences.  

Ahead of her time, she wrote several mail order booklets about swimming and personal health/beauty care.  She was a lifelong vegetarian and owned a health food store in Long Beach, California until 1970 when Kellerman returned to Australia where she died in 1975 in Southport, Australia.  Hollywood remembered her in the 1952 film "Million Dollar Mermaid" in which she was portrayed by MGM sensation, Esther Williams.

 

First bikini - Micheline Bernardini 1946

From here on, bathing attire would only decrease in size with the arms, legs and décolleté receiving more exposure.  New fabrics and styles provided practical swimwear and by the 1940s the bathing suit was the norm for Hollywood pin-ups.  The bikini, invented by Louis Réard, officially debuted July 5, 1946, at a public pool in Paris.  The model,  Micheline Bernardini, reportedly received 50,000 fan letters after her appearance!  Réard was an automobile engineer by trade who ran his mother's shoe store.  He and a rival designer competed to see who could make the world's smallest bathing suit and Réard came up with the idea at the beach when he saw women roll up their swimsuits to get a better tan.  He declared a two-piece suit wasn't a real bikini "unless it could be pulled through a wedding ring."  Incidentally, he named his creation after the South Pacific island, Bikini Atoll, where an atomic bomb was then being tested.  He figured the shock effect of the bikini would equal that of the bombings in Japan the year before.

One has to wonder what Kellerman would think of the thongs and string bikinis today.  Would she be alarmed by the topless beaches?  I doubt it.  When she began her career, women's competitive swimming didn't exist.  I think she would beam at the women who have broken down the barriers that once restricted them from participating in men's sports.  We've certainly come a long way from bloomers and no other garment in the history of fashion can truly boast less is more.  

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The Shocking Elsa Schiaparelli

While the legendary Coco Chanel became synonymous with haute couture, we seem to have overlooked Elsa Schiaparelli; fashion revolutionary extraordinaire.  In truth, the two women couldn't have been more opposite.  Elsa - highborn and homely, and Coco - lowborn and beautiful.  Schiaparelli dubbed Chanel "that dreary little bourgeoise" and Chanel bitingly referred to her as "that Italian artist who makes clothes". 

Elsa was born in Rome, 1890, to an aristocratic mother and father who was Dean of the University of Rome.  She studied the stars with her Uncle Giovanni, an astronomer who discovered the canals on Mars.  While she was studying philosophy at the University, she shocked her family by publishing a book of sensual poetry.  In response, they sent her to a convent where she went on a hunger strike.  To flee her conservative parents, she took her first job at 22 as a nanny in London where she met Count William de Wendt de Kerlor at a lecture she attended in 1912.  They married within 24 hours and moved to New York where their daughter was born in 1919, Maria Luisa Yvonne Radha, aka Gogo.  He abandoned them and the now (and hereafter) single mother moved to Paris to design clothes.  

Elsa's first successes were her black knit sweaters; one designed with a white trompe l’oeil white bow and another that gave the impression of a scarf wrapped around the neck.  In 1927, she opened her first salon, "pour le Sport" which launched a line featuring bathing and ski suits.  In 1931, Lili de Alvarez stunned the world at the Wimbledon Championships when she wore Elsa's new divided skirt (forerunner of shorts).  Evening wear and costume jewelry were added and in 1931 the Schiap Shop moved into the upscale Place Vendôme.

Over the course of the next two decades Elsa produced a number of fashion firsts: 

-Graphics on knitwear and evening sweaters.       
-Use of visible zippers dyed to match the fabric in 1930 on her sportwsear and on evening gowns in 1935.
-Made buttons artwork using unusual shapes like snails, bees and peanuts.
-Culottes, embroidered shirts and walking coats.
-Turbans, scarves, oversized belts and the always in fashion "wedge" shoe.
-Experimented with crumpled rayon, distressed fabric and transparent plastic dresses similar to cellophane.
-Wraparound dresses and halter necklines.
-Evening dresses with matching jackets in 1930.
-Animal prints and use of brilliantly colored fabrics.
-Shoulder pads in 1932 for her angular wide-shouldered suits and dresses. 

The Lobster Dress

Elsa was inspired by Modern Art and worked with artists like Alberto Giacometti and Jean Cocteau but she is especially known for the iconic dresses she created with Salvador Dali between 1937-38.  The "Lobster
Dress" was white silk with a crimson waist and had a lobster painted on the front by Dali.  The "Tears Dress" was pale blue with trompe l'oeil rips (print designed to look three dimensional) and worn with a veil with actual cuts outlined in pinks.  The gown was meant to resemble a reversed animal pelt.  The "Skeleton Dress" was black crepe using a quilted stuffing technique to create the effect of bones.  The "Shoe Hat" was just that; a hat with a shoe on it.  Singer sewing heiress Daisy Fellowes made this hat, and  another   in the shape of a giant lamb chop, famous. 

The Skeleton Dress

The Tears Dress

Elsa began marketing perfumes in 1934.  Created in 1937, "Shocking" gave her one of her most enduring trademarks.  The perfume was named for the shade of pink used on the box designed by Leonor Fini.  The color was inspired by the Tête de Belier (Ram's Head), a 17.27ct pink diamond from Cartier owned by Daisy Fellowes.  Shocking is best remembered for it's packaging.  The bottle was in the shape of a woman's torso inspired by the curvaceous form of Mae West. 

WWII forced the fashion houses of Paris into hibernation and Elsa left for New York for a lecture tour in 1940.  She returned in 1945 and reopened the House of Schiaparelli but she found post-War designs like Dior's "New Look" unappealing.  Ironically, she closed her doors in 1954; the year Coco Chanel made her comeback.  That same year Elsa wrote her biography "Shocking Life".

Her impact on the fashion industry is as equally important as her innovations.  Elsa was the first to open a ready to wear clothing boutique and offer mix-and-match sportswear.  She also introduced the runway we know today.  Her shows were the first to incorporate music and art and she believed using tall and waif-like women best displayed the clothing. 

Whereas Chanel strived to make a woman comfortably elegant, Elsa brought out the fanciful side in women.  Making fashion fun, she designed handbags that played music when opened, fur bed jackets and rhinestone trimmed lingerie. Oddly enough, her biggest fans were the ultra chic yet conservative women.  Her influence can never be underestimated.  True to her spirit and befitting her work, in 1973 Elsa Schiaparelli was buried in her shocking pink Chinese robe.

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Charles Frederick Worth - The Father of Haute Couture

Now isn't it ironic the creator of Haute Couture was an Englishman?  Most likely, Charles Frederick Worth is also probably someone you've never heard of.  Women dreamed of being dressed by him and girls fantasized about wearing one of his debutante court presentation gowns much the same way we look upon those glorious Red Carpet creations worn on Oscar night.

Worth was born in 1825 in Bourne, Lincolnshire, England.  Forced to work at the age of eleven, for years he was employed at a department store and then at a fabric company before moving to Paris in 1846.  He was hired by prominent drapers, Gagelin and Opigez, who sold textile goods and some ready-to-wear garments.  Soon he married Marie Vernet, the shop's shawl and bonnet model for buyers.  Worth made her a few dresses and customers started asking for copies.  His dress department was successful and the firm's reputation grew when Worth's designs were displayed at the Great Exhibition in London and the Exposition Universelle in Paris.

                                                  

Still, the firm refused to venture into dressmaking.  In the mid-18th century, dressmaking was regarded as déclassé and a unprestigious profession .  It was a time when material was purchased and taken to a seamstress, the woman decided the style.  Worth's idea was to enable customers to buy the design and fabric and have the dress made at one location.  Despite being made junior partner, Worth struck out on his own funded by Otto Bobergh, a wealthy Swede.  

Worth and Bobergh opened in 1858 and were soon patronized by the French Empress Eugénie, aristocrats and notable women like Cora Pearl and Catherine Walters, famous demimondaines; singer Jenny Lind and actresses Sarah Bernhardt and Eleonora Duse.   To his credit, he was the first to design for both royalty and the demi-monde.  Never before had an entertainer like Lillie Langtry shared a dressmaker with a duchess.  Many of his clients came from as far away as New York and Boston.  A wealthy woman would order a complete wardrobe comprised of morning, day and evening dresses as well as extravagant privately worn items such as tea and nightgowns.

His timing couldn't have been better.  Emperor Napoleon III restored the royal house in 1852 and once again made Paris the cultural leader of Europe.  Not since before the French Revolution had the demand for luxury goods grown so much.  When Napoleon III married Empress Eugénie, her style reigned at court and her patronage ensured Worth's success.  His clothing labels (the first of their kind) on her dresses carried the royal crest along with his name.

Worth reshaped women's figures by removing excessive frills.  He used rich, simple fabrics that enhanced outlines and trimmed with fringe, lace, braid and pearl tassels.  Worth also created the ankle-length walking skirt, shocking for it's day.  As dress skirts grew fuller, crinolines were a must but Worth disliked them.  By flattening the skirt in front and sweeping the fullness around to the back, he formed the very popular bustle first shown off by Austrian Princess Pauline von Metternich.  Next were Princess gowns, waistless dresses that hung straight in the front with draping full pleats in the back.  Worth designed elaborate historically inspired dresses commissioned for performance costumes and the masquerade balls so popular at the time.  By studying famous portraits in museums, Worth was able to incorporate the elements of historic dress much the same way as designers today revamp and bring back former trends.

The first true couturier; Worth was the dressmaker elevated to artist who would forever change the face of the industry.  The customer was no longer the designer.  He used a novel selling approach whereby quarterly, Worth displayed dresses on live models at fashion shows.  A woman would make her selection and her input was limited to fabric choice and measurements.  A master at self-promotion, by the 1870s Worth's name often appeared in fashion magazines including those beyond royal and celebrity circles.  Due to his efforts, Haute Couture not only became a profitable business, it was a publicity magnet. 

Worth and Bobergh closed during the Franco-Prussian War.  He re-opened in 1871 (without Bobergh) as the House of Worth.  His sons, Gaston and Jean-Philippe, were brought into the business and took over after his death in 1895.  The house flourished into the 1920s and continued until 1952 when Worth's great-grandson, Jean-Charles, retired.  

Charles Frederick Worth set the wheels of Haute Couture in motion.  Not until him did women ask, "Who was she wearing?".  He was a visionary who saw art was not only relegated to paints, brushes and chisels.  The designers that followed can all claim some form of innovation or another but not one can say they were the original.  He was the man who brought fashion into it's exceedingly lucrative limelight.  

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