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Elsa Schiaparelli (1890 - 1973) - Exotic - Flamboyant - Cutting-edge
Whenever
you hear “shocking pink” you tend to think 80’s, neon, pop… The matter of fact is that shocking pink had
been around for some considerable time before that – 1936 to be precise,
introduced by no other than Italian-born fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli. She opened her first couture house in Paris
in the 1920’s and was known for her outrageous and witty clothing, often
inspired by modern and Surrealist art.
Focussing
on her costume jewelry, she often drew inspiration from nature, circus imagery
and astrological motifs. She juxtaposed
the materials she used in an exuberant stylized design, making her jewelry more
exotic and radically different than those of her rival at the time, being Coco
Chanel. Schiaparelli’s flamboyant (and even audacious at times) jewelry
were created by using unusual stones – like “lava rocks, moon rocks, kite
stones and watermelon stones”, which she often arranged in a delicate dance of
colour and light.
After her
death in 1973, the Couture House reopened in 2012 at Hôtel de Fontpertuis, 21
place Vendôme and in January 2014 the first Haute Couture runway show since
1954 is presented during Paris Haute Couture week.
“Fashion is
born by small facts, trends, or even politics,
never by
trying to make little pleats and furbelows,
by
trinkets, by clothes easy to copy, or the shortening
or
lengthening of a skirt.”
ELSA
SCHIAPARELLI
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