Elsa schiaparelli designs dress
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Elsa Schiaparelli, who was known for her amusing prints, outdid herself in July 1937 with a particularly clever “passion thermometer” motif that depicted mercury rising between the poles of ‘Indifference’ and ‘Passion.’ Fashion’s love affair with the Italian designer has never been tepid, and is once again reaching boiling point as “Shocking! The Surreal World of Elsa Schiaparelli” is set to open on July 6 at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris.
The upside-downness of the past few years has, at times, felt Surrealistic, so this aspect of the exhibition seems to be on point, if already much discussed. More salient with regards to the state of fashion today is the designer’s renegade, and highly collaborative, approach to her work. Schiaparelli was self-taught. Her social standing and education had exposed her to style and the arts, but she had no training in the fields of fashion or business. As Vogue put it, Schiaparelli “was hampered by none of the dressmaking traditions.” An
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Fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli (1890 – 1973) was a provocateur who took pleasure in challenging typical notions of dress. Witty, elegant and often strikingly surreal, her designs incorporate humour and surprise, inviting the viewer to look and look again.
Schiaparelli worked within the confines of traditional tailoring but played with subversive details, extraordinary materials and the imagery of Surrealism to create unique fashion statements. Our collection includes one of her earliest designs, a black jumper knitted with a white bow, alongside her most powerfully Surrealist works, designed in collaboration with the artists Salvador Dali and Jean Cocteau.
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Hat,The Pagan Collection, designed by Elsa Schiaparelli, 1938, Paris, France.
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Elsa Schiaparelli Evening Dresses and Gowns
From her signature color Shocking Pink to her collaborations with Surrealist artists, the boldly original Elsa Schiaparelli transformed fashion with her haute couture house from the late 1920s to the early ’50s. Experimenting with elements like trompe l’oeil images and colorful visible zippers, the Italian designer instilled a provocative avant-garde artistry in her clothing and accessories, including those created with Salvador Dalí, such as the lobster dress and a hat shaped like a shoe.
Born in Rome, Schiaparelli was a rebellious child who grew up among the city’s intellectual elite. She had a voracious appetite for reading and became interested in ancient cultures, astronomy and world religions. Schiaparelli studied philosophy at the University of Rome, and after publishing a collection of poems on love and sensuality that so mortified her conservative parents that they tried, unsuccessfully, to confine her to a Swiss convent, she le