Tuesday, May 1, 2007

Elsa Schiaparelli








Elsa Schiaparelli is one of the greatest designers of the 20th century. Her witty and stylish clothes were most popular in the 1930's and 1940's, and are still admired today. Here is her portrait on the TIME magazine cover of August 1934.
Elsa Schiaparelli was born in Rome in 1890. She had a colourful childhood, although she did many things to shock her parents. She caused a sensation when she attended a ball in Paris with material just wound around her body, when it started to unrave

Elsa Schiaparelli was a surrealist artist in the world of high fashion. She took "hard" and made it soft, she raised glass and mirrors to unprecedented levels of fashion. She converted the surrealist's dream into a fashion bonanza.
Schiaparelli's world fused dreams and actions. Skilled in poetic creation, she gave clothing the capability to become art. The trajectory of her dreams travelled over conflicting paths; her actions were directed to recreate the world of fashion.
Her clothing was more than apparel as she fused inventive creativity and romance into art. She took willful illusion and pounded it into wearable apparel. Her accessories became fashion statements to be worn and admired.
She was fashion’s orchestra leader blending surrealism and fashion into a symphony of fun.

Elsa Schiaparelli was born in Rome in 1896. She opened her house in Paris in 1929 and was immediately successful. Over the years, she created many unique designs and was acclaimed internationally. She became a leading international designer of fashion and fragrances. She created numerous perfumes including Salut, Soucis, Shocking, Sleeping, Snuff, Le Roy Soleil, Zut, Eau de Sante, Verveine, Success Fou, Sport, Si, S, So Sweet and Shocking You.

chiaparelli France has embarked upon a program to meticulously reproduce Elsa Schiaparelli's original fragrances.
Her beautiful floral fragrance "Shocking" has been produced in a Baccarat crystal, limited numbered edition bottle. The fragrance, composed of over 500 individual ingredients, is adorned by a crystal bottle in the form of a female bust protected by a glass cover (see photo below). Elsa Schiaparelli was the first artist, designer, perfumeur to use this form of bottle. The price of the re-edition is $1,000.00.

Her 12 Commandments for Women
Always a business woman, many of these commandments were for her business benefit, especially the last!
1. Since most women do not know themselves they should try to do so.
2. A woman who buys an expensive dress and changes it, often with disastrous result, is extravagant and foolish.
3. Most women (and men) are color-blind. They should ask for suggestions.
4. Remember-twenty percent of women have inferiority complexes. Seventy percent have illusions.
5. Ninety percent are afraid of being conspicuous, and of what people will say. So they buy a gray suit. They should dare to be different.
6. Women should listen and ask for competent criticism and advice.
7. They should choose their clothes alone or in the company of a man.
8. They should never shop with another woman, who sometimes consciously or unconsciously, is apt to be jealous.
9. She should buy little and only of the best or cheapest.
10. Never fit a dress to the body, but train the body to fit the dress.
11. A woman should buy mostly in one place where she is known and respected, and not rush around trying every new fad.
12. And she should pay her bills.

http://italophiles.com/schiaparelli.htm
http://www.schiaparelli.com/
http://www.schiaparelli.com/sureal.htm
http://www.style.com/vogue/feature/100603/index.html
http://www.amazon.com/Schiaparelli-Universe-Fashion-FranCois-Baudot/dp/0789301164
http://www.slate.com/id/2091431/
http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9066115/Elsa-Schiaparelli
http://www.philamuseum.org/
http://www.designerhistory.com/historyofashion/schiaparelli.html
http://www.answers.com/topic/elsa-schiaparelli
http://www.geocities.com/FashionAvenue/3105/trendsetter2.html
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/e/elsaschiap142633.html
http://www.vandashop.com/product.php?xProd=767&s=1
v

No comments: