Elsa Schiaparelli
Ashley S. Lett Designer Analysis March 19, 2013
Elsa Schiaparelli was an Italian born, french designer who rose to fame during the 1930's and is best known for her very creative designs and her support of the surrealist culture/artist movement. She is said to be one of the most important and influential figures of the surrealist movement ; creating a fashion house that was well known globally—in both Europe and in the United States—for its mixture of of loud color,---like “shocking pink”--exotic designs, and broad use of synthetic fabrics such as cellophane and celluloid—which she used to create detailed embellishments; like clothing made of patches of monkey hair. In 1927 Elsa Schiaparelli moved to Paris after separating from her husband. After taking many small fashion jobs she decided to start her own fashion house which was featured in her apartment. Her first collection was called Display No. 1, which featured sportswear. Also, later that year she was featured in Vogue Magazine introducing a black and white trompe l'oeil design patterned with a square collar and red bow knot sweater that catapulted her career—which lead to her incorporating sweaters in her collections. Soon after she would become one of the worlds leading designers and the first to use zippers and shoulder pads in her collection. She proved to be successful in other related industries as well and in 1937, she launched her perfume Shocking, with the bottle modeled as a hourglass silhouette which was a hit. According to researchers, “By the mid-1930s Schiaparelli was known for using the most innovative materials...and the most unusual details, especially the imaginative buttons designed in collaboration with Jean Clément and Roger Jean-Pierre.” ( Oxford University Press, 1996. Grove Art Online) Schiaparelli held a very prominent place in the social circuit of Paris and was her biggest marketer. She would wear her own clothing. She had also developed ties in the United States which lead to great opportunities. Some American movie stars wore her clothing which helped to solidify her place in the fashion world. Some of her clients include: Marlene Dietrich, Wallis Simpson, Greta Garbo, Katharine Hepburn, Joan Crawford, and Zsa Zsa Gabor. Also, “ in 1931, Schiaparelli sent Spanish tennis player Lili de Alvarez to Wimbledon in a white silk split skirt”; this is evidence of her popularity all over the world. (Bryan, Elizabeth Q. Schiaparelli, Elsa (1890 1973), Fashion Designer) Her fashions were somewhat whimsical and was very eclectic. Some of her signature pieces include her lamb chop and shoe hat, as well as her lobster dress. Schiaparelli also had her own fragrance line and designed some makeup products—one of which was a compact shaped like a rotary phone . After viewing an article on the New York Times I found that today her fashions“...range in price from $350, for a pair of japanned metal ear clips, to more than $50,000...” (http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/27/a-little-something-schiaparelli/) Her fashion House closed in 1954 because of economic changes in Europe after WWII; she later died in the early 1970s. The size range of her clothing was 0-4 and her target market consisted of rich, high class, and high fashion individuals who wanted to wear something that may be considered outrageous or out of the ordinary. Saks Fifth
Ave. was one of the retailers that carried her line in the 1930s, today her fashions are still available on the market through online boutiques or clothing boutiques whose niche market is to sell retro high fashions. Elsa Schiaparelli has been very influential to other designers who also claim to be surrealist like designer Yang Du. Designers like Dolce Gabbana have also been influenced by her and have incorporated shocking pink and eccentric details—like buttons shaped like insects—on their designs. Women in America after the 1920s were given the right to vote and were cutting their hair and changing the norms.; women in Europe where becoming more liberal. This was the perfect time for Elsa Schiaparelli to release her creative juices and create a line of fashion that was out side of the box and the surrealist movement was the key to it all. The surrealist movement was a revolutionary movement. What I found most profound about this movement and Elsa Schiaparelli designs are simply the way the artist expressed themselves. I find it so interesting that her fashions were accepted because 20 to 40 years prior to the 1930s she would not have had the success that she experienced mainly because people, especially women, were held to unreasonable standards. I absolutely love her hats. If she were still alive and designing I could see renditions of her designs all over campus—they truly were different and they definitely challenged the status quo and made use of the changes that occurred after WWI and the feminist movement in the U.S.
Works Cited
Vincent, David. "Schiaparelli: The Shocking Truth." Harper's Bazaar 3574 (2009): 470. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 20 Mar. 2013. Bryan, Elizabeth Q. Schiaparelli, Elsa (1890 - 1973), Fashion Designer. n.p.: Oxford University Press, 1996. Grove Art Online. Web. 20 Mar. 2013. Clare Coulson, Fashion Editor. "The Daily Telegraph: ELSA SCHIAPARELLI: THE WORLD WAS HER LOBSTER." Daily Telegraph, The (London, England) 17 Mar. 2007: NewsBank. Web. 20 Mar. 2013. http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/27/a-little-somethingschiaparelli/