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.

Please click here to visit Falls Avenue Vintage Fashion