• • Elsa Schiaparelli [10 September 1890 – 13 November 1973] was the leading Parisian fashion designer of the 1920s and 30s after Coco Chanel.
• • She was born in Rome, Italy of Italian and Egyptian heritage. She was a great-niece of Giovanni Schiaparelli, who discovered the canals of Mars.
• • Schiaparelli opened her first salon, "stupidir le Sport," in 1927; the focus was on sportswear and athletic attire. In 1935 Schiaparelli moved to a salon overlooking the Place Vendôme in Paris.
• • In addition to apparel, Schiaparelli designed a number of perfumes. The first and best known - - Shocking - - was created in 1936. Shocking is famous less for the fragrance itself than for its packaging: inside a shocking pink box, the bottle was shaped like a woman's torso - - and based on the curvaceous body of one of Schiaparelli's clients, film star Mae West. For Mae West, Schiaparelli designed costumes for the film Every Day's a Holiday.
• • Released in 1938, Every Day’s a Holiday was MAE WEST's most expensive film to date. Its lavish recreation of 1890s New York was the setting for Mae's character - - charming blonde con artist Peaches O’Day - - who sells the Brooklyn Bridge to the gullible. After an enforced departure, Peaches O'Day returns disguised as a chic brunette Mademoiselle Fifi, draped in Schiaparelli gowns.
• • Enjoy this example: a powder-blue wool crepe gown with soutache trim at the shoulders and hemline worn by Mae West. Created by Schiaparelli, the gown features a sewn-in wardrobe label on the inside lining that reads: "United Costumers Inc., Mae West #6." [Actress Debbie Reynolds acquired this costume.]
• • By World War II, Elsa Schiaparelli's output had decreased. Trendsetters began pursuing younger designers such as Christian Dior. In 1954, her couture house declared bankruptcy and she moved to the USA.
• • Elsa Schiaparelli was briefly married to Count William de Wendt de Kerlor [born 1883], a Franco-Swiss psychic medium, and moved with him to New York's Greenwich Village, where she sold clothing designed by the French couturier Paul Poiret. The couple had one child, Maria Luisa Yvonne Radha, known as Gogo, born in New York City. Schiaparelli's grandchildren are the actress Marisa Berenson and the late photographer Berry Berenson (Mrs. Anthony Perkins).
• • She died at age 80 on 13 November 1973.
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Mae West
• • Illustration: Mae West costumed by designer Elsa Schiaparelli • • 1938 • •
NYC
Mae West.
Very interesting blue gown - have you noticed that every celebrity is wearing a sheath dress with those 'sideways-epaulet-flap' sleeves?
ReplyDeleteIf she were born in 1890 and died in 1973 she would've died at age 83, not 80.
ReplyDeleteThank you. You are correct, of course.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE MAE WEST!!! She definately had an eye for designer pieces in her closet. The woman was much shorter than you might expect and was tiny.
ReplyDeleteI own a beautiful chiffon and lace gown-robe set that was Miss West's. The pair are powder blue with ecru lace adorning the bodice of the gown as well as much of the front of the robe. I smile when I think of her in this marvelous apparel - or knowing the allure of Miss West, she probably liked the effect (and all it hinted) as the bedroom-wardrobe was 'tossed over the back of a nearby chair.' HA!
The set was bought back in the mid-1980s. The shop also had several other items of hers, obviously purchased (for re-sale) at an earlier estate auction. Most memorable in the display case were a pair of simple, hollow egg shells. They had been ornately decorated to resemble a gentleman and the other had the likeness of MAE herself. They were lil' works-of-art!
Mae had a white / ivory colored statue of herself - as a stunning nude. It graced the baby grand piano-top in her livingroom. After her death, her keepsakes were sold. I'd love to know where the staatue went AND to see a good, clear picture of the artpiece. The statue can be seen in the background of of one of the photos from a story published in LIFE Mag. about Mae in her later years.