Could anyone have guessed that a quirky girl would one day leave such an indelible mark that fashion itself would have to say goodbye?
Could anyone have guessed that a quirky girl would one day leave such an indelible mark that fashion itself would have to say goodbye?
November 13, 1973
Could anyone have guessed that a quirky girl would one day leave such an indelible mark that fashion itself would have to say goodbye?
Elsa Schiaparelli was unruly long before she was a designer. As a child, miffed that she wasn’t invited to her parents’ dinner party, she opened a jar of fleas under the table - sending guests scratching and shrieking as they fled. It was her first act of creative disruption, the kind that would one day shake the world of couture.
In 1916, on a voyage to America, Schiap met a circle of artists captivated by Surrealism - and soon after, the visionary designer Paul Poiret. Poiret recognized her eccentric flair and urged her to channel it into fashion. A decade later, in 1927, she unveiled a black-and-white trompe-l’œil sweater with a red bowknot collar - a witty illusion that launched her career.
Through the 1930s, Schiaparelli turned Surrealism into couture. Collaborating with Salvador Dalí, she created fashion’s most unforgettable fantasies: the Lobster Dress, the Shoe Hat, the Tear Dress, the Skeleton Gown. Drawing from Dada and artists like Meret Oppenheim, Man Ray, and Cecil Beaton, she merged art, humor, and defiance in a way no one had before. Her runway shows became full-blown performances: Stop, Look and Listen (1935), Music and Paris 1937, Zodiac, Pagan, Circus, Commedia dell’Arte.
In 1937, Schiap mixed a hue that defied the era’s polite pastels: shocking pink, vivid and fearless. That same year came Shocking!, her perfume in a bottle shaped like Mae West’s torso, designed by Leonor Fini. When Zsa Zsa Gabor wore a blazing Schiaparelli gown in Moulin Rouge (1952), the color became legend: later reborn in Marilyn Monroe’s satin, Elle Woods’s suits, and Barbie’s dreamscape.
Her influence ripples through Charles James, Yves Saint Laurent, Alexander McQueen, and Daniel Roseberry, who now leads her house. Schiaparelli never designed for comfort or convention; she designed for astonishment.
Fifty-two years ago, on November 13, 1973, the world of couture bid farewell to its great rebel genius. But Schiaparelli never truly left. Her legacy still whispers to every designer the most vital rule: dare to be different.
