Pierluigi and I went to see the Dada & Surrealismo Show here in Rome but no sign of Elsa Schiaparelli who was from Rome.....

elsa schiaparelli website

Palazzo Corsini Roma

Elsa Schiaparelli, the flamboyant fashion designer of the Art Deco period, is renowned for her fabulous eccentricity and innovation. She changed fashion and people's attitudes to it with her scandalous dresses and colourful personality. Her legacy of spectacular designs and an entirely innovative approach to fashion design has moulded contemporary fashion and inspired countless fashion designers, including Galliano, McQueen, Gaultier and Yves Saint Laurent. In short, Elsa Schiaparelli was the woman who shaped fashion as we know it today - creating the pattern for all dresses to come.

elsa schiaparelli---more----

Elsa Schiaparelli - designer---- Elsa Schiaparelli once said of her career: "Poverty forced me to work, and Paris gave me a liking for it".


l'inimitabile----

surrealismo della moda----

moda, colori, visioni di artista----

avant garde fashion designer---

diego della valle and schiaparelli----

eclettica----

Elsa Schiaparelli was an Italian who began her career as a designer in 1930s Paris. While Coco Chanel and Madeline Vionnet designed easy, soft clothes, Elsa Schiaparelli designed unusual, almost shocking garments.
She invented shocking pink and introduced mad prints, buttons and accessories. She was the designer for hard chic, those who want to be shocking. Elsa introduced the upturned shoe hat which became very famous.
Elsa Schiaparelli was the first one to do the boutique look in a store when she started selling her sweaters and accessories in the corner of the her salon. This idea was copied after World War II, and the boutique was born.
World War II marked the end of her business. She retired and never returned to fashion. She died in 1973 at the age of 83.


Elsa Schiaparelli----

Elsa Schiaparelli was the leading Parisian fashion designer of the 1920s and 30s after Coco Chanel. Elsa Schiaparelli was born in Rome on September 10, 1890, of Italian and Egyptian heritage. She was great-niece of Giovanni Schiaparelli, who discovered the canals of Mars.

Dolce & Gabbana copy shocking pink-- The surrealist queen of fashion, Elsa Schiaparelli has been the inspiration of Dolce&Gabbana Fall 2009 collection---

Elsa Schiaparelli (1890-1973) who, together with Coco Chanel, dominated fashion between the two world wars. Schiaparelli designed for the modern woman and had a close relationship with the Parisian artistic community of the 1920s and 1930s. In addition to over 150 dresses.....

Aftershock What happened to the provocative Elsa Schiaparelli?

Elsa Schiaparelli: Shocking-Pink-----

Shocking! The Art and Fashion of Elsa Schiaparelli book review

moda surrealistica---

a collection of articles----

beaded bolero for sell--

Elsa Schiaparelli at flickr--

Elsa Schiaparelli Quotes---

Evening jacket, 1938----

Berry Berenson: Elsa Schiaparelli--- marisa berenson---

MOTHER OF INVENTION.( articles)

As Time said of her in 1934, despite putting her on their cover, “ Though her fame continues to spread, one thing keeps Schiaparelli, now in her middle thirties, from becoming the very smartest of the Paris dressmakers. Her designs are too easy to copy. The mutton sleeves and tray shoulders which she sponsored last year were instantly popular on the Champs-Elysees and Manhattan's Park Avenue. But it was not long before every little dress factory in Manhattan had copied them and from New York's 3rd Avenue to San Francisco's Howard Street millions of shop girls who had never heard of Schiaparelli were proudly wearing her models.” This meant that while Chanel continued in the fashion buisness, Schiaparelli had to shut shop despite being more creative and innovative. She had given the world such radically new fashion objects that would one day become common like ensemble outfits, backless swimsuits, built-in bras, shoulder pads, wedgie shoes and waterproof cottons to name but a few, but her legacy could live on only in the work of others. She went into retirement in December 1954 and then wrote her autobiography, “Shocking Life.”

The Elsa Schiaparelli Skeleton Dress----

The Surrealist Who Dressed People Coco Chanel did not have many challengers, but she did have one serious rival, and that was Elsa Schiaparelli. Schiaparelli was known as '˜Schiap' to her friends......

Man Ray foto-----

Between the World Wars Schiaparelli was fashion’s darling, rivalling Chanel in the popularity stakes and helping to change the face of fashion. Not only did she sow the seeds of modern collections, placing the emphasis on creativity rather than traditional construction, she helped to inject a sense of fun and playfulness into an industry that took itself very seriously.

Elsa Schiaparelli Overview ---and some more----

Inspired by the novelty of 50’s jewellery and artists and designers such as Salvador Dali and Elsa Schiaparelli, the collections revisit a time when makeup and vanity items were the inspiration for playful accessories such as brooches or necklaces. ----

Piece Effort » Elsa Schiaparelli----

Elsa Schiaparelli blog----

viaje al trastero----

Simply Shocking Elsa Schiaparelli Fashion---

The Unforgettable Faces of Fashion---- ---


J'adore Trompe l'Oiel...----Elsa Schiaparelli hats---Hat, by Elsa Schiaparelli---- another hat---


Weekend Eye Candy - Schiaparelli Evening Gown for Wallis Simpson---Great Fashion Designers of the Past----

Living Room of Elsa Schiaparelli, Paris, 2002---Elsa Schiaparelli (right) social life----