Elsa Schiaparelli

A few lectures back one of my lecturers mentioned a designer, Elsa Schiaparelli, and said she was one to look at. And so like a good little student, I looked at her. I am greatly thankful that I did too. So here is a brief bio, mainly consisting of the bits of her career I enjoyed most.

Elsa Schiaparelli was an Italian fashion designer. Schiaparelli is regarded as one of the most successful and prominent figures in fashion between the two World Wars, along with her greatest rival, Coco Chanel.

Schiaparelli was born in Rome. Her mother was a Neapolitan aristocrat, her father an accomplished scholar; his studies focused on the Islamic world and the era of Middle Ages. Her father was also the Dean of the University of Rome, where Schiaparelli would herself later go on to study philosophy. Her uncle was a successful astronomer, who often studied the stars with her, and a cousin of her father and uncle was a noted Egyptologist. The cultural background of her family members helped ignite Schiaparelli's imagination. She became very interested in ancient cultures and religious rites, which then inspired her to write a volume of poems titles Arethusa based on the ancient Greek myth of the hunt. Her parents were alarmed by the content of her writing, and so sought to tame her fantasy life by sending her to a convent boarding school in Switzerland. However, this deemed unsuccessful, when once within the school's confines, Schiaparelli rebelled against its strict authority by going on a hunger strike, leaving her parents no alternative but the bring her home. Schiaparelli disliked a lifestyle that was refined and comfortable and considered it unfulfilling. Her craving for adventure of the wider world led to her searching to remedy this, and when a friend offered her a post caring for orphaned children in an English country house, she took that opportunity to escape. However, once again the experience proved uncongenial to Schiaparelli, who subsequently planned a trip to Paris rather than admit defeat by returning to Rome.

The next years of her life were lived out in London and New York, where she birthed her child 'Gogo' in 1920 and lived out an unsuccessful marriage which ended in divorce in 1924. Schiaparelli moved back to France from New York in 1922.

Schiaparelli's design career was influenced early on by couturier Paul Poiret, who was well-known for jettisoning corseted, over-long dresses and promoting styles that allowed free movement for the modern, elegant and sophisticated woman. Schiaparelli had no training in the technical skills of pattern making and clothing construction. Her approach relied on the impulse of the moment and serendipitous inspiration. She often draped fabric directly on the body, sometimes using herself as the model. This method was inspired by Poiret, who also created garments by draping.

Whilst in Paris, Schiaparelli began making her own clothes, and with encouragement from Poiret, she started her own business but it was closed in 1926 despite the reviews being favourable. She then launched a new collection of knitwear in 1927 using a double layered stitch created by Armenian refugees and featuring sweaters with surrealist troupe l'oeilimages. The "pour le sport" collection expanded the following year to include bathing suits, ski-wear, and linen dresses. The business went from strength to strength when Schiaparelli added evening wear to her collections in 1931, where she used the luxury silks of Robert Perrier.

A darker tone was set when France declared war on Germany in 1939. Schiaparelli's Spring 1940 collection featured "trench" brown and camouflage print taffetas. Soon after the fall of Paris in June 1940 Schiaparelli sailed to New York up until the end of the war. When she returned, she found fashion had changed. The House of Schiaparelli struggled in the austerity of the post-war period. Elsa finally closed her couture house down in 1954, the same year that her rival, Chanel, returned to business.

Schiaparelli was one of the first designers to develop the wrap dress, taking inspiration from aprons to produce a design that would accommodate and flatter all female body types.

Her swimsuit design was an innovative success, which incorporated an interior bra with an alluring low-cut back by using hidden straps that crossed in the back and closed around the waist.

Schiaparelli is one of the designers credited with offering the first clothes with visible zippers in 1930.

Schiaparelli was also renowned for her unusual buttons, which could resemble candlesticks, playing card emblems, ships, crowns, mirrors and crickets; or silver tambourines and silk-covered carrots and cauliflowers.

I have hardly covered half of her life and success, but like I said, this was to be brief.

One thing I loved most about reading about this woman was how she took inspiration from other subjects, such as philosophy and psychology and history and myth, other than just art and visuals. I love how in her childhood she was rebellious and broke rules to get what she wanted, she was relentless when it came to getting to where she wanted to be and I find that extremely inspirational. I am also in love with the fact that many of her designs are utterly mental and undeniably genius.

And finally, some of my favourite pieces of Elsa Schiaparelli's...

Ta Ta for now, My Lovelies.

Miss Blue.