Elsa the Great
May 1931
Relentlessly innovative and famously fashionable, Elsa Schiaparelli wore a “trouser skirt” of her own design in London in 1931. Later that same year, tennis player Lilí Álvarez would raise eyebrows (and ire) for competing at Wimbledon in a similar style. “Shocking,” indeed.
January 1937
Dancer and actress Ginger Rogers dressed for the cold in a ruffled velvet coat by Schiaparelli.
Illustrating Schiaparelli’s deep admiration for Surrealist art is the product of her 1937 collaboration with Jean Cocteau. The resultant taupe gown renders the silhouette of a woman’s head in silk crepe, metallic thread, and glass beads.
April 1941
Elsa’s daughter Maria Luisa “Gogo” Schiaparelli married shipping executive Robert L. Berenson in 1941. Here, she showcases the wedding dress her mother designed in the pages of Vogue.
May 1937
The Duchess of Leeds donned Schiaparelli for this portrait by Cecil Beaton for Vogue in May 1937. Posing with flowers, the young royal embodies Schiaparelli’s muse: striking, sultry, stylish.
August 1937
“On pointe” in more ways than one, a woman wears a dress from Schiaparelli’s evening collection in 1937.
1937
In 1933, Salvador Dalí’s wife photographed the artist balancing one of her slippers atop his head. Years later, Dalí and Schiaparelli used the image as inspiration for their so-called “shoe hat” collaboration. Schiaparelli included the resultant creation (pictured here) in her 1937 fall/winter collection.
January 1935
Resolutely hands-on, Schiaparelli fits a model at her atelier in Paris in 1935. Known as the “Schiap Shop,” the salon would eventually produce Surrealist-accented collaborations with such artists as Jean Cocteau, Salvador Dalí, and Alberto Giacometti.
June 1934
Equal parts elegance and modernity, a woman wears one of Schiaparelli’s draped dresses in 1934.
June 2013
In the aftermath of Impossible Conversations, Tod’s president and C.E.O. Diego Della Valle announced plans to revive Schiaparelli’s storied house of style. Almost a year later, the Italian magnate made good on his promises. Della Valle announced that Christian Lacroix would design a 15-piece, one-time-only capsule collection to be displayed in Paris.
March 1959
What a pair of stems! In 1959, an admirer raises a glass to toast Schiaparelli’s latest creation: a pair of hand-painted stockings decorated with one of the designer’s preferred motifs.
February 1947
Schiaparelli’s hallmark print work feels as fresh today as it did in 1947. Here, a woman wears one of the designer’s evening dresses in Paris.
July 2013
Using a subtler shade of pink than the one for which Schiaparelli became so well known, Lacroix also presented this striped gown as part of his special collection for the relaunched couture house.
May 2012
In May 2012, the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute celebrated a duo of distinctive voices in fashion. An unconventional retrospective, Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations recognized both designers’ enduring legacies. Here, Vogue editor in chief Anna Wintour recalls Schiaparelli’s iconic lobster dress at the exhibition’s opening.
October 1949
Model of the moment Shari Herbert slipped into a figure-hugging Schiaparelli gown for an evening event in New York.
July 2013
On July 1, 2013, Lacroix debuted his homage to the designer. Liberally embellished, meticulously crafted, and very pink, the collection expertly re-interpreted some of Schiaparelli’s most memorable creations.
