Elsa Schiaparelli (1890–1973) was an Italian fashion designer whose work reshaped the language of modern fashion between the two World Wars. Based primarily in Paris, she emerged as one of the most influential couturiers of her time, standing alongside—and in direct rivalry with—Coco Chanel. While Chanel championed restraint and functional elegance, Schiaparelli embraced boldness, wit, and intellectual provocation, making her a defining figure of interwar haute couture.
Schiaparelli first gained recognition through innovative knitwear, introducing trompe-l’œil sweaters that played with illusion and humor. This early success set the tone for her career: fashion as a space for experimentation rather than convention. Her designs often challenged traditional ideas of femininity through unexpected materials, exaggerated forms, and striking colors—most famously her shocking pink.
Deeply influenced by Surrealism, Schiaparelli collaborated closely with leading artists such as Salvador Dalí and Alberto Giacometti. These partnerships produced some of the most iconic garments in fashion history, including the lobster dress, the shoe hat, and dresses adorned with symbolic imagery. Through these creations, she blurred the boundaries between fashion and art, turning clothing into a medium of artistic expression.
Her clientele reflected her avant-garde reputation. Schiaparelli dressed bold, unconventional women such as heiress Daisy Fellowes and Hollywood star Mae West, who embodied confidence, individuality, and modern glamour. Although her fashion house closed after World War II, Schiaparelli’s legacy endures, influencing generations of designers who continue to draw inspiration from her fearless creativity and surreal imagination.
Following World War II, the fashion world underwent a profound transformation, and Elsa Schiaparelli struggled to adapt to these changes. The postwar era favored a return to structured elegance, commercial practicality, and mass appeal—exemplified by Christian Dior’s “New Look.” In contrast, Schiaparelli’s surreal, intellectually charged designs, which had thrived in the experimental atmosphere of the interwar years, appeared out of step with the new mood of optimism and conventional femininity.
At the same time, the couture industry itself was changing. Rising production costs, shifting consumer tastes, and the growing importance of ready-to-wear fashion made it increasingly difficult for highly artistic couture houses to remain financially viable. Schiaparelli, whose work depended heavily on bold concepts and elaborate craftsmanship, found it challenging to reconcile her creative vision with these economic realities.
As a result, her fashion house gradually lost momentum, and in 1954 Schiaparelli closed her business. Although this marked the end of her active role in fashion, it did not diminish her historical importance. Her work remains a powerful reference point for designers and artists, and her legacy continues to be celebrated for its originality, daring spirit, and lasting influence on the relationship between fashion and art.
Personal Life
Elsa Schiaparelli was born at the Palazzo Corsini in Rome into a family of intellectual and social prominence. Her mother, Maria-Luisa, was a Neapolitan aristocrat, while her father, Celestino Schiaparelli, was a renowned scholar, curator of medieval manuscripts, and Dean of the University of Rome with expertise in Sanskrit. Elsa was also the niece of the famous astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli, known for discovering the so-called canali of Mars, and she spent many hours with him studying the heavens. She pursued philosophy at the University of Rome and, during her studies, published a book of sensual poems that scandalized her conservative family. As a result, she was sent to a convent, from which she staged a hunger strike. At the age of 22, she accepted a position in London as a nanny, marking the beginning of her independence.
Despite growing up in a life of refinement and luxury afforded by her parents’ wealth and social standing, Schiaparelli felt constrained by the opulence surrounding her. She believed that such comfort stifled her creativity, prompting her to remove herself from the "lap of luxury" as quickly as possible. Her journey took her first to New York City and later to Paris, where she merged her passion for art and design to establish herself as a couturier. On her way to London, she attended a ball in Paris. Lacking a ballgown, she improvised by purchasing dark blue fabric, wrapping it around herself, and pinning it in place—an early display of her ingenuity and flair for visual presentation.
During her time in London, Schiaparelli immersed herself in museums and lectures, marrying one of her lecturers, Count William de Wendt de Kerlor, a Franco-Swiss theosophist. In 1921, they relocated to New York, where Elsa was immediately captivated by the city’s modernity. Her husband, however, distanced himself from urban life and abandoned the family by the time their daughter, Maria Luisa (nicknamed “Gogo”), was born. In New York, Schiaparelli met Gaby Picabia, the ex-wife of French Dadaist artist Francis Picabia, who ran a boutique selling French fashions. Through her work there, Schiaparelli connected with prominent artists like Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray. When Gaby and Man Ray returned to Paris, Schiaparelli followed, setting the stage for her groundbreaking career in the Parisian fashion world.
Fashion Career
By 1931, Schiaparelli had incorporated evening wear into her offerings, using luxurious silks from Robert Perrier, and her business flourished. In 1935, she moved from 4 Rue de la Paix to the renowned salon of Madeleine Chéruit at 21 Place Vendôme, a location that became famously known as the Schiap Shop. Her collections during the 1930s demonstrated both creativity and theatricality. Highlights include the 1931/32 Wooden Soldiers Collection inspired by Indo-Chinese costumes; the 1935 Stop, Look & Listen and Eskimo Collections; the 1936 Parachute Collection; and the 1937 Paris 1937 collection, which introduced her iconic shocking pink. She continued to explore whimsical and surreal motifs with the 1937 The Things All Around Us Collection, the Metamorphosis Collection of butterflies, and the 1938 Le Cirque, Pagan, and Astrology/Zodiac Collections. Subsequent collections drew inspiration from music, commedia dell’arte, and imaginative, nature-based themes, culminating in the 1940 Cash and Carry Collection and the 1946 Constellation Wardrobe Collection.
The outbreak of World War II cast a darker tone over Schiaparelli’s work. Her Spring 1940 collection reflected the war with “trench” brown and camouflage print taffetas. Following the fall of Paris on June 14, 1940, she sailed to New York for a lecture tour and remained there for the duration of the war, aside from a brief return to Paris in early 1941. Upon her return to postwar Paris, Schiaparelli found the fashion landscape transformed, with Christian Dior’s “New Look” signaling a dramatic shift from prewar styles. The house of Schiaparelli struggled in the austere postwar period, and in December 1954, Elsa closed her couture house. That same year, her long-time rival Chanel returned to the fashion scene.
At the age of 64, Schiaparelli penned her autobiography, Shocking Life, reflecting on a career of daring creativity and artistic innovation. She spent her retirement between her Paris apartment and her house in Tunisia, enjoying a comfortable life. Elsa Schiaparelli passed away peacefully in her sleep at her home at 22 rue de Berri, Paris, in 1973 at the age of 83, leaving behind a legacy that continues to inspire fashion designers and artists around the world.
Artist collaborations
Modern art played a pivotal role in shaping Elsa Schiaparelli’s approach to fashion, particularly movements like Dada and Surrealism. Dada emerged during World War I as an avant-garde movement rejecting conventional aesthetics, embracing absurdity, irrationality, and a playful critique of traditional society. Surrealism, developing in the 1920s, focused on exploring the unconscious mind, dreams, and the unexpected, often creating striking juxtapositions and fantastical imagery. Both movements aligned perfectly with Schiaparelli’s vision of fashion as a medium for imaginative, daring expression rather than mere practicality.
Schiaparelli collaborated with some of the most innovative artists of her time to translate these avant-garde ideas into wearable art. Her partnership with Salvador Dalí is the most famous, producing iconic designs that blurred the line between clothing and sculpture. Among their notable creations were the shoe hat, where a high-heeled shoe became a hat, and the Tears dress, emblazoned with trompe-l’œil prints of dripping tears. Dalí’s influence extended to other imaginative works, including the lamb-cutlet hat and a 1936 day suit whose pockets mimicked the appearance of a miniature chest of drawers, demonstrating Schiaparelli’s talent for playful surrealism in everyday attire.
Beyond Dalí, Schiaparelli cultivated relationships with other influential artists such as Leonor Fini, Jean Cocteau, Meret Oppenheim, and Alberto Giacometti, drawing inspiration from their surreal, imaginative perspectives. Her innovative approach to fashion earned her the nickname “that Italian artist who makes clothes,” as famously remarked by Coco Chanel. Through these artistic collaborations, Schiaparelli transformed couture into a living canvas, combining the theatricality of modern art with the elegance and sophistication of high fashion.
In 1937, Elsa Schiaparelli collaborated with the multifaceted artist Jean Cocteau for her Autumn collection, creating garments that seamlessly merged fashion with surrealist art. This partnership highlighted Schiaparelli’s belief that clothing could serve as a canvas for artistic expression, pushing the boundaries of conventional couture. The collaboration resulted in a jacket and an evening coat that showcased Cocteau’s imaginative vision translated into exquisite embroidery.
The jacket was particularly striking, featuring a female figure embroidered in a whimsical and sensual manner, with one hand appearing to caress the wearer’s waist. Long blonde hair cascaded down one sleeve, adding a flowing, dynamic quality to the design that interacted with the wearer’s movements. The evening coat, meanwhile, incorporated Cocteau’s fascination with optical illusion and surrealism: two profiles faced each other, cleverly creating the image of a vase of roses when viewed as a whole. Both garments were brought to life through the meticulous craftsmanship of the celebrated couture embroidery house Lesage, ensuring that each detail—every line of the figures, every petal of the roses—was executed with exceptional precision.
This collaboration exemplifies the synergy between avant-garde art and haute couture that defined Schiaparelli’s work. By integrating Cocteau’s surrealist imagery into her garments, she elevated fashion into a theatrical and conceptual experience, demonstrating her commitment to imaginative design and the transformative potential of couture as a medium for art.
Dalí
The designs Schiaparelli produced in collaboration with Dalí are among her best known. While she did not formally name her designs, the four main garments from this partnership are popularly known as follows:
Elsa Schiaparelli’s collaborations with Salvador Dalí are among her most celebrated and iconic designs, demonstrating a seamless fusion of surrealist art with haute couture. While Schiaparelli did not formally name her garments, four key pieces from this partnership have become particularly famous, beginning with the Lobster Dress. Introduced in 1937, this simple white silk evening gown featured a crimson waistband and a large lobster painted onto the skirt by Dalí. The lobster motif had been a recurring theme in Dalí’s work since 1934, appearing in pieces such as New York Dream-Man Finds Lobster in Place of Phone (1935) and the mixed-media sculpture Lobster Telephone (1936). For Schiaparelli, Dalí’s design was transformed into a silk fabric print by the leading designer Sache. The dress gained widespread recognition when Wallis Simpson wore it in photographs taken by Cecil Beaton at the Château de Candé shortly before her marriage to Edward VIII.
Dalí also collaborated with Schiaparelli on accessory designs, most famously the shoe hat introduced in her Fall-Winter 1937–38 collection. The hat, shaped like a woman’s high-heeled shoe, had the heel standing upright and the toe tilted over the wearer’s forehead, creating a playful and audacious statement piece. The hat was worn by Gala Dalí, Schiaparelli herself, and Daisy Fellowes, the Franco-American editor of French Harper’s Bazaar and one of Schiaparelli’s most devoted clients. Together, these designs exemplify the daring, imaginative, and theatrical approach that defined Schiaparelli’s couture and solidified her reputation as a designer who brought surrealist art vividly to life in fashion.
Jewelry
Elsa Schiaparelli’s creativity extended beyond clothing into distinctive costume jewelry, which became an integral part of her fashion identity. Her designs were often playful, theatrical, and imbued with surrealist sensibilities, reflecting her collaborations with contemporary artists. One of her most strikingly surreal pieces was a 1938 Rhodoid necklace made from a newly developed clear plastic, studded with colored metallic insects. This design gave the illusion that the bugs were crawling directly on the wearer’s skin, exemplifying Schiaparelli’s fascination with optical illusions and whimsical, slightly provocative motifs.
During the 1930s, her jewelry designs were produced by Jean Clemént and Roger Jean-Pierre, who also crafted buttons and fasteners for her garments, ensuring a cohesive and innovative aesthetic throughout her collections. Schiaparelli was also among the first to recognize the talent of Jean Schlumberger, whom she initially employed in 1936 to create buttons. Schlumberger’s inventive jewelry, combining precious and semi-precious stones in unexpected ways, quickly gained acclaim. By the end of the 1930s, Schlumberger departed to launch his own jewelry business in New York, a testament to the platform Schiaparelli provided for emerging talent.
In addition to Schlumberger, Clemént, and Jean-Pierre, Schiaparelli collaborated with other artists and designers, offering brooches by Alberto Giacometti, fur-lined metal cuffs by Meret Oppenheim, and pieces by Max Boinet, Lina Baretti, and writer Elsa Triolet. While her 1930s jewelry often mirrored the surrealist and theatrical qualities of her couture, her pieces in the 1940s and 1950s evolved toward more abstract or floral-themed designs, demonstrating her ability to adapt her aesthetic to changing tastes while maintaining a distinctive, imaginative signature.
Film Costumes
Elsa Schiaparelli extended her creative talents to film costume design, applying her imaginative approach to the silver screen. Her work in cinema began with the French version of 1933’s Topaze and continued through to the 1952 biopic Moulin Rouge, starring Zsa Zsa Gabor as Jane Avril, the famed dancer immortalized by Toulouse-Lautrec. For Moulin Rouge, Schiaparelli designed Gabor’s wardrobe with careful attention to historical authenticity, basing the costumes directly on Toulouse-Lautrec’s portraits of Avril. Although the film won Marcel Vertès an Academy Award for Costume Design, Schiaparelli’s contributions were largely unrecognized beyond a prominent on-screen credit noting her role in designing Gabor’s outfits. Her involvement demonstrated her ability to translate her couture expertise into historically informed, visually striking cinematic costume design.
One of Schiaparelli’s most famous film collaborations was with Mae West for Every Day’s a Holiday (1937). To create the perfect fit, Schiaparelli used a mannequin modeled on West’s exact measurements, a meticulous approach that ensured the actress’s iconic curves were perfectly complemented by her costumes. This creative process went beyond practical fitting: it also inspired the torso-shaped bottle for Schiaparelli’s Shocking perfume, highlighting how her work in costume design directly influenced her ventures in fragrance and the wider visual culture of fashion. Through these projects, Schiaparelli demonstrated a unique ability to merge historical reference, theatricality, and couture innovation, cementing her reputation as both a visionary designer and a creative collaborator in multiple artistic mediums.
Perfumes
While Elsa Schiaparelli’s couture dresses remained financially successful, she found even greater profitability in perfumery, reaching a much wider audience. Unlike her high-fashion garments, which were accessible only to an elite clientele, her perfumes could be purchased by thousands who might never aspire to own a Schiaparelli dress. Schiaparelli established a separate perfume business at the same Paris address as her fashion house, personally designing bottles, labels, and packaging for iconic fragrances such as Shocking, Salut, Le Roi Soleil, Zut, and others.
In 1934, Schiaparelli launched her first three scents globally: Soucis, Salut, and Schiap. Beginning in 1928 with her signature 'S', her earliest perfumes, eaux de toilette, and eaux de cologne were created in England by George Robert Parkinson, an expert perfumer who had worked with the perfumeries of Massenet and Jean-Louis Le Court Co. Parkinson later became director general of Parfums Schiaparelli in Paris and oversaw the company’s export operations in New York during the turbulent years of the Nazi occupation, narrowly escaping destruction while evacuating to London. By 1937, Schiaparelli had built a perfumery factory in Bois-Colombes, north-west of Paris, creating a distinct division named Parfums Schiaparelli. Production continued at this facility until 1961.
Schiaparelli collaborated closely with leading perfumers such as Jean Carles and Nathalie Feisthauer, and relied on pioneering aromatic chemists like Roure, who provided facilities for couture houses to create and manufacture fragrances—a practice Schiaparelli was among the first to embrace. Her perfumes were particularly noted for their unusual and artistic packaging, often drawing inspiration from the female form and from the surrealist imagery of Salvador Dalí. The most famous example is Shocking! (1936), whose bottle, sculpted by Leonor Fini, depicted a woman’s torso inspired by Mae West’s tailor’s dummy and Dalí’s paintings of flower-sellers. The bottle’s shocking pink color, a Schiaparelli signature, was reportedly inspired by Daisy Fellowes’ Cartier “Tête de Bélier” pink diamond. This fragrance was re-launched in 1998 and remains iconic.
Schiaparelli continued to expand her perfume range, introducing scents such as Sleeping (1938), Snuff for men (1939), Roi Soleil (1946), and Zut! (1948). In 1958, the perfume company was acquired by Benesser Pikenz and renamed Schiaparelli Benessere Pikenz, with Schiaparelli herself remaining actively involved in the perfume business until her death in 1973. Following her passing, the company became known simply as Schiaparelli-Pikenz, maintaining the legacy of her visionary blend of couture creativity and fragrance artistry.
Legacy
Although Elsa Schiaparelli’s fashion house ultimately failed and her name has not remained as widely recognized as that of her great rival Coco Chanel, she was nonetheless celebrated in her time as a visionary and highly original designer. In 1934, Time magazine placed Chanel in the “second division” of fashion, while Schiaparelli was described as one of “a handful of houses now at or near the peak of their power as arbiters of the ultra-modern haute couture.” The magazine praised her for being “madder and more original than most of her contemporaries,” noting that the word “genius” was frequently applied to her work. While Chanel had amassed a fortune of roughly $15 million, Schiaparelli’s success relied more on artistic inspiration than commercial strategy. Her designs were widely copied, reaching countless women across the United States—from New York’s Third Avenue to San Francisco’s Howard Street—who may never have even known her name but proudly wore her models.
Schiaparelli’s most enduring legacy lies in her ability to infuse fashion with the playful, audacious spirit of Dada and Surrealism. She delighted in experimenting with juxtapositions of color, shape, and texture, embracing new technologies and materials in couture. Collaborating with Charles Colcombet, she explored acrylic, cellophane, and innovative rayon fabrics such as “Jersela” and “Fildifer,” incorporating metal threads into textiles—marking the first use of synthetics in high fashion. Some experiments, like her 1934 transparent “glass” cape made from Rhodophane, a cellophane-like plastic, were not widely adopted. However, many of her innovations had lasting influence: she created wraparound dresses decades before Diane von Furstenberg, and used crumpled rayon 50 years before Issey Miyake popularized pleats and crinkles. In 1930 alone, Schiaparelli introduced the first evening dress with a jacket and garments with visible zippers, demonstrating her flair for unconventional fastenings—ranging from jackets buttoned with silver tambourines to ones decorated with silk-covered carrots and cauliflowers. These pioneering touches combined practicality with whimsy, cementing her role as a true avant-garde innovator in fashion.
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