An Italian Designer in Paris: Elsa Schiaparelli designed clothing that ranged from the elegant to the bizarre. She made shocking pink the color of the moment and urged women to do as they pleased and to dress boldly. Balenciaga said she was the only true artist in haute couture.
Her Amazing Family:
The actress Marisa Berenson was one of Schiaparelli's granddaughters. (Marisa starred in the 1975 Stanley Kubrick film Barry Lyndon. ) Another granddaughter, Berinthia, died on American Airlines Flight 11 during the September 11th attack in 2001. Schiaparelli's great grandson (Elvis Perkins) is a folk singer who has been compared to Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen.
Schiaparelli's father Ernesto was an Italian Egyptogist who found Queen Nefertari's tomb in the Valley of the Queens in 1904. her mother was an Egyptian artist. Her uncle Giovanni was a famous astronomer who discovered the canals of Mars.
“She was full of ideas. She had tremendous imagination and fantasy about everything, including her own life. Most great artists have that.” --Marisa Berenson
"In difficult times fashion is always outrageous.”
-- Elsa Schiaparelli
Not surprisingly, Schiaparelli hired a young Salvador Dali as one of her designers. Together they worked on wild ideas for hats, perfumes, gloves, shoes, and dress designs
(I've been looking for an opportunity to use this Tex Avery wolf in a post--if you want to see some Tex Avery cartoons, check youtube.)
