Elsa Schiaparelli didn't just rock the fashion world; she flipped it on its head, and some couldn't handle it. Born in Rome in 1890, Schiaparelli launched her career in the vibrant city of Paris, where she constantly challenged the status quo of 'what women should wear.' Her bold designs made her famous, but it was her daring ideology that irked those who couldn't fathom why women might want to wear something other than grey skirts and sensible shoes.
Schiaparelli was a force to be reckoned with, influencing the fashion world by collaborating with surrealist Salvador Dali, introducing shocking pink to an otherwise monotonous palette, and creating necklines like 'the lobster' that made traditionalists faint. Her work in the 1920s and 1930s didn't just set trends; it threw them out of the window, replacing them with a modernity that evolved style itself. She wasn't about making clothes; she was about making statements, ones that rang throughout the elegant streets of Paris and beyond.
With fashion houses still following her blueprints, it's clear her impact is timeless. Some might have called her a radical, but Schiaparelli was an unapologetic individualist who believed in fashion's power to transform the wearer and challenge conventions set by rigid philosophy that left no room for creativity or expression. The girl took fashion seriously, and she expected others to do the same.
Many saw her as a designer who cared more about aesthetic spectacles than practicality, but Elsa’s response was pure genius. Her work was a visual commotion that screamed for attention in a time when so many were content to whisper. Her collaboration with Dali created the iconic 'lobster dress,' considered a crown jewel of surrealist fashion—something that could set the puritanical tongues wagging.
While other designers were cashing in on the necessity for conservative garb, Schiaparelli unleashed couture lines that mixed arrogance with elegance. Here was a woman who dared to make evening dresses with visible zippers, often considered obscene in polite society. She made it clear zippers were not to hide but to feature, and suddenly, they became a chic necessity.
Elsa Schiaparelli's influence didn't just stop at clothes. Her unconventional shoes, such as the 'heel of the shoe' that went in the opposite direction (literally), reminded everyone that creativity knows no bounds. The thirties were roaring, and so were her designs. Feminine yet fierce, they mocked the sensibilities of those who believed that the sky, or at least the hemline, was falling.
Schiaparelli's legacy was cemented with her perfume 'Shocking,' another way to offer a veritable middle finger to tradition and embrace a fragrance that encased its bottle in a every shape most would associate with scandal. She wasn't into conforming to what was dictated by social mores. Fashion for her was less about what one wore and more about how one carried herself through a world that wanted women to be quiet and ornamental.
Why did Elsa Schiaparelli torch the fashion rulebook? Because she saw it as her moral duty to liberate women from the banal and expected. Liberals of the era swooned over her bravado but fainted at the defiance. She used fashion not just to dress women but to liberate them. The codes she shattered had been set by those who valued order over originality, and in tearing them down, she gave us a new fashion vernacular.
Fast forward to today, and her vision remains bold and alive. Schiaparelli’s forward-thinking designs resonate within the culture of high fashion. Choose to follow the rules or break them; just know that Elsa Schiaparelli made it chic to do both.