Elsa Schiaparelli was one of the leading fashion designers of the 1920s and 1930s.
He was born on 10 September 1890 in Rome.
After working for a time in a New York store, Schiaparelli moved to Paris,
where she started designing her own clothes.
Her creations and her sense of style shaped the fashion of the era, while her clothes have been worn by
some of the world’s most famous women, such as American actress Greta Garbo.
Schiaparelli died in Paris on 3 November 1973.
The so-called Queen of Fashion came from an aristocratic family.
Her mother was a Medici descendant, her father a library director and literature professor, and her uncle an astronomer.
However, from a very young age, Schiaparelli often upset her parents.
After school he enrolled at the University of Rome where he studied philosophy and, very soon, published a collection of poems,
which her parents considered so provocative that they sent her to a convent.
To escape, Schiaparelli went on hunger strike and then went to London, where she worked as a governess.
In London Schiaparelli met and married Count William de Wendt de Kerlor who was a theosophist.
Very soon the couple moved to New York.
On the ship that took them to New York, Schiaparelli met Gabrielle Picabia, wife of the nanny painter.
Through this acquaintance, he began to hang out with the most avant-garde artists of the time, such as Man Ray and Marcel Duchamp.
New York proved to be a very enlightening experience for Schiaparelli.
There she started working in a shop specializing in French fashion and quickly acquired a
her own opinion on clothes and accessories.
When her marriage broke up, Schiaparelli returned to Paris, where she continued to work in the fashion industry.
She soon began designing her own clothes and in 1927 she opened her first shop.
Schiaparelli’s first collection, a series of sweaters with surrealistic images – which eventually became her trademark – attracted the attention of the fashion world as well as French Vogue.
This was followed by a collection of swimwear and skiwear, as well as Schiaparelli’s famous zipped panties – an early form of women’s shorts.
In 1931, this zipped panty was worn by tennis champion Lily d’Alvarez at the Wimbledon tournament.
In the same year, “Shadow”, as it was now known, began to design evening creations.
For Schiaparelli, fashion was as much about making art as it was about making clothes.
In 1932, Janet Flanner wrote in The New Yorker magazine, “Schiaparelli’s dress is like a modern canvas.”
Not surprisingly, as Schiaparelli hung out with famous artists of the time.
One of her friends was the painter Salvador Dali, whom she had asked to design fabrics for her fashion house.
Schiaparelli also designed clothes for the cinema and theatre.
Her creations have appeared in more than 30 films, such as Every Day’s a Holiday
starring May West and Zsa Zsa Gabor.
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I kiss you,
Maria Dretaki
Maison Schiaparelli
