Elsa Schiaparelli may not be a household name like her arch rival Coco Chanel, but during the inter-war years the Italian designer was wildly influential and just as talked about. And just like Chanel, Schiaparelli had a fascinating life and one well worth revisiting even if you only have a passing interest in the fabulous, game-changing clothes she created. Meryle Secrest is the latest biographer to delve into the Italian designer’s colourful, crazy and sometimes tragic life.
Born in Rome in 1890, Schiaparelli soon shrugged off her middle-class background and her parent’s plans to find a good match, to travel first to Paris and then to London where at 23 she married a man who was anything but the perfect match – a palm reader and medium called Wilhelm de Wendt de Kerlor who would later be thrown out of the country. The couple relocated to New York where they had a daughter Maria Luisa and then promptly split up. Schiaparelli’s future would however be far more illustrious – she moved to Paris and set up her own business creating extravagant gowns for her society friends. She made clothes for trend-setters like Daisy Fellowes and, most famously, the Duchess of Windsor who wore Schiaparelli’s Surrealist lobster dress. She befriended Salvador Dali with whom she collaborated on Surrealist clothes and accessories and was also friends with Cocteau and Man Ray. At the height of her fame, Schiaparelli was considered one of the most influential international designers, famed for her fearless colour combinations, thoroughly modern approach and sometimes eccentric cuts. But despite her fame, post-World War II she never recovered from her association with the Nazis (she was friends with Hitler’s Ambassador to Paris and there were rumours that she was a spy). Her creativity dwindled and she eventually closed her business in 1954.
Secrest’s biography (which incidentally was also Radio 4’s Book of the Week this week) is the perfect introduction if you know nothing about the designer – but it’s also an interesting read if you’re already familiar with her story.
