Schiaparelli Reborn

©ourtesy of ARTINFO

Fashion Designer on Her Way to a Posthumous Comeback?

 

Elsa Schiaparelli

Elsa Schiaparelli’s Shoe Hat (collaboration with Salvador Dalí), winter 1937-38 / Courtesy Tumblr

 

Elsa Schiaparelli and Dalí’s lobster dress / Courtesy Philadelphia Museum of Art

Eight years after a career retrospective at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Elsa Schiaparelli is back in the spotlight with an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute and an announcement from Italian businessman Diego Della Valle that he is relaunching the brand that bears her name. With all the buzz surrounding the show and the revival, is the late fashion designer on her way to a posthumous comeback?
Elsa Schiaparelli revolutionized fashion in the 1930s with her surrealist tromp l’oeil sweaters, lobster dress, and whimsical prints. In 1934 Time hailed her as “the one to whom the word ‘genius’ is applied most often,” and said that Elsa Schiaparelli was a more dominant influence in fashion at the time than her biggest rival, Coco Chanel. But in the end, it was Chanel who triumphed after Schiaparelli shuttered her business in 1954, due to the post-war economic downturn. Read more…

Schiaparelli & Prada at ‘The Met’

Celebrities Honor Two Great Designers at Event

Schiaparelli and Prada, many guests at this year’s ultimate fashion gala on Monday night observed some surprising similarities between two women whose work is separated by half a century. Walking through the displays of ugly-chic dresses and slightly surreal designs in a new Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition that compares the designers Elsa Schiaparelli and Miuccia Prada.  “I loved the play of the two of them together,” said Tom Ford, arriving at the Costume Institute gala with the model Chanel Iman, who wore a dress made of pheasant feathers molded to her body. “It was amazing how hard it was to differentiate some of the pieces.”  Best not mention that to Mrs. Prada, one of the most influential female designers in recent history, who initially rebuffed the museum’s plans to mount an exhibition that compared her to Schiaparelli, who died in 1973.

Mrs. Prada said in many interviews about the show that she had never been inspired by the work of her predecessor. “Well,” Mr. Ford said, “Coco Chanel said that creativity is the art of concealing your sources.”©NYtimes story by ERIC WILSON Continue reading →