Schiaparelli – At the Intersection of Fashion and Design
- Jonas
Today the haute couture house Schiaparelli is widely known for its eccentric creations and celebrities wearing their newest designs on the red carpet.
What many don’t know is that the history of the house and its artistic garments dates back around 100 years to the house’s founder Elsa Schiaparelli, born 1890 in Rome to a wealthy academic and aristocratic family.
Schiaparelli was a rebellious spirit and soon moved away to London where she met her husband with whom she moved to New York in 1916. Here she found herself in the social circles of artists like Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray and Francis Picabia and followed them to Paris in 1922 after her marriage had not worked out.
Clothes had always been a symbol of emancipation for Schiaparelli and through meeting Paul Poiret, a highly influential, parisian fashion designer at that time, she was encouraged to venture into the field herself.
She started out by making clothes for herself and friends but her career really took off after the release of her first collection of bow-sweater in 1927. The double knitted pieces featuring big trompe l‘oeil (French for „deceive the eye“) bows on their front caused a big stir at a social gathering that Schiaparelli wore it to and shortly after even made it into Vogue magazine.
With her business flourishing she further developed her artistic and playful designs. Her signature style was defined by the incorporation of surrealist and dadaist elements into her creations frequently working together with different artists within her social circle. Her most fruitful cooperation definitely was with Salvador Dali with whom she collaborated on various pieces like the Skeleton & Lobster Dress, Shoe hat and the Mirror jacket.
She once said: „Working with artists like Bebe Bérard, Jean Cocteau, Salvador Dali, Vertès, Van Dongen; and with photographers like Hoeningen-Huene, Horst, Cecil Beaton, and Man Ray gave one a sense of exhilaration.“
Inspired by René Magritte’s painting La Trahison des Images (The Treachery of Images) with the famous saying „This is not a pipe“ she designed the bottle of her only men’s perfume – in the shape of a pipe.
Not only she drew inspiration from the artists around her, they also incorporated her creations into their work, visible for example in Picasso’s portrait of the wife of surrealist poet Paul Eluard‘s wife Noush Eluard – wearing a Schiaparelli hat and jewelry in the painting.
After highly successful years in business in 1954 she had to declare bankruptcy. Her extravagant style had gone out of fashion and it was time to make space for new designers like Christian Dior and Christobal Balenciaga.
Paying tribute to her legacy and of course driven by business interests in the stylistic foundation she had developed the house was re-established in 2014. However Schiaparelli‘s influence can be seen in broader a broader context than her fashion house.
She can be seen as a pioneer of graphic tees and sweaters, she was the first to incorporate music into her fashion shows and possibly also was the first fashion house to collaborate with artists. Furthermore, fashion designers like Yves Saint Laurent and John Galliano have cited her as an influence, also paying homage to her style within their creations.
All images are solely used for educational purposes. If you are the copyright holder and wish to be credited or the images to be removed, please reach out.
Who should read this?
