Fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli. Biography, career of Elsa Schiaparelli

Today the name of this woman does not sound too often. Only a limited number of people involved in fashion know who Elsa Schiaparelli is. In the 20-30s of the last century the name of the famous master of haute couture did not come off the lips of European women. Each collection of the designer caused general admiration and admiration.

Young Elsa

In the birthplace of Corsini, which is not far from the capital of Italy - Rome, the future star of world fashion was born. On September 10, 1890, a girl appeared in the family of the director of the Royal Library of Italy. Parents decided to call her Elsa. From an early age, the girl was surrounded by the love and care of her parents.

When Elsa Schiaparelli grew up, the favorite occupation of the young fashionista was the examination of book illustrations in her father's library. In general, books in the family of Schiaparelli played a big role. Father spent all his spare time behind numismatic publications, being a passionate collector of old coins. According to unconfirmed reports, he had the honor of exchanging coins with the king of Italy himself.

Elsa Schiaparelli: biography and ancestral roots

Elsa's mother was born in Malta, where her great-grandfather was sent by the consul of Great Britain. There are a lot of interesting personalities in the family who formed the elite of that time. The grandfather of the future star of the world of fashion on the maternal line, leaving five children, went to Egypt to establish trade relations with local industrialists.

Soon, with an outstanding talent of the seducer of women's hearts, he married the daughter of a rich local merchant and rose to the counselor of the king of Egypt. The famous Italian astronomer Giovanni Virginiano Schiaparelli is a native uncle, brother of Elsa's father. There is a legend that, having seen the birthmarks on the cheek of a niece, located in the form of the Big Dipper, he considered it a good sign and foretold the girl a great future. However, Elsa Schiaparelli (photo below) did not stand out for her beauty, which her whole life regretted.

The Beginning of Adulthood

Remaining an exemplary daughter, the girl was brought up in severity. Father did not allow young Elze any excesses. Cavaliers, who began to show attention to a young Italian, were instantly rejected by her father. All her girlfriend had to concentrate on her studies.

Only in 1914 Else managed to escape from the shackles of his parent. At the invitation of an old friend Elsa Schiaparelli for the first time leaves his father's house and goes to London, where she was offered the place of a governess. On the way to a new job, the girl made a stop in the French capital, where she met her classmate in college, who invited a young Italian woman to the ball.

Due to lack of funds, the girl quickly built herself an evening outfit. To the dark blue crepe de Chine dress, bought in the gallery of Lafayette, she attached a piece of orange silk, and an uncomplicated block was built on her head. There was no time for stitching the details of clothes, so all the details of the clothes were fastened with pins.

The extravagant outfit of the Italian girl aroused genuine interest among the local audience. Soon after the next round of waltz, the whole gorgeous set was scattered on the spot. The girl in tears left the party under the puzzled looks of the guests of the holiday.

London life of a future designer

Having reached the capital of Great Britain, Elsa Schiaparelli took up her duties as a governess. Special difficulties in the upbringing of the owner's children did not arise for the girl, so there was a lot of time for personal life.

The craze of Europe at that time was the study of Theosophy, the occult movement of the mystical knowledge of God. Elsa decided to keep up with fashion and enrolled in the lecture of Count William de Wendt de Curler. After another visit to the lecture audience, a thematic dispute arose between the lecturer and the girl.

The conversation dragged on until morning, after which they turned out to be engaged. Only after the wedding the daughter notified her parents of the marriage.

Family life of a girl from Rome

The young couple arranged their life together in a rented apartment in a suburb of London. From the first days of family life did not ask. The stable source of existence of the husband was not, and therefore the couple moved to Nice, where his parents lived. Trying to somehow improve the financial situation, Elza Skia alone goes to Monte Carlo to experience the fate of the green cloth of local casinos. Returning without a penny in her pocket, the Roman woman gives herself the right to no longer engage in this business. Hoping to change something in their destiny, the couple decides to go overseas.

Life in New York was different from the usual European way of life. William plunged into the ocean of entertainment. Novels with rich American women, among whom was Isadora Duncan, were forced to forget her husband about the purpose of their trip to America. Debts for hotel accommodation grew every month, but he did not care. He continued to toast in local elite restaurants, giving the waiters a generous tip. The husband appeared less and less often in the house, and the news that Elsa was waiting for the child, he met with indifference.

So steel is hardened

Yvonne - so a young mother called her daughter. After leaving the maternity hospital, Elsa was forced to seek a new shelter for herself and her newborn baby. By that time, the owner of the hotel, where they lived with William, deprived them of their numbers for debts. The husband was not interested in the life of his child, six years later the man will die under the wheels of the car, being in a drunken intoxication.

Yvonne took the first steps in the basket tied to the fire escape. A small room in a cheap hotel was at the top, in the tower of the architectural structure. In such circumstances, mother with a small daughter lived two years. Elsa interrupted by accidental earnings to feed the child and pay for housing. When the girl was one and a half years old, her mother discovered the unnatural gait of her daughter.

After visiting the doctor, a diagnosis was made - infantile paralysis. In desperation, the future designer Elsa Schiaparelli rushes from one doctor to another in the hope of helping her daughter. In one of the clinics, the woman met Gabriel Picabia, the wife of the French artist-abstractionist F. Picabia. The woman invited Elsa Schia to sell a collection of clothing from Paris.

Return to France

On the advice of doctors, the future fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli returns to France, where she arranges her daughter to boarding school for children with musculoskeletal disorders in Lausanne. Attached to the fashion world of Elsa helped the case. At one of the parties she met a woman of Armenian nationality in an elegant sweater hand-tied. Ordering the same outfit for herself and going out into the light, Elsa impressed the Frenchwoman.

So, soon the Armenian diaspora began to supply Elsa with knitted clothes for sale to local women of fashion. Inspired by success, Elsa began to think about her own fashion developments. Having good abilities in drawing, the future designer rents an attic on the street of the World, 4 where soon there is a signboard "Elsa Schiaparelli". Collections of clothes from the new Parisian fashion designer have become very popular with women in the capital.

Chronology of further events

• 1930 year. The idea of creating antique silhouettes with elements of drapery and an overstated waist.
• 1935 year. As an honored guest, the French designer opens the Fashion House in Moscow.
• 1935 year. Opening your own boutique in Paris.
• 1936 year. In the fashion world, the color of pink fuchsia became popular, the idea of which was embodied by Schiaparelli.
• 1938 In Paris, a collection is presented, united by the theme of the circus, where all elements of the decor were embroidered with glass beads.

In the same year, an amazing tandem was born - Salvador Dali and Elsa Schiaparelli. Dress with a lobster, flavored with parsley, made a sensation in the fashion world. After the show, Bessie Wallis Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor, acquired this item.

• 1940 year. The designer leaves the occupied Paris and emigrates to the United States.
• 1946 year. On his return to Europe, Schiaparelli launches a new line of spirits "King Sun". The design of the bottle is made from the sketches of an old friend - Salvador Dali.
• 1947 year. On the Olympus of the world fashion a new name appears - Christian Dior. For Elsa Schia there are hard times, gradually interest in the surreal direction in fashion is losing its relevance.
• 1954 year. Elsa Schiaparelli presents her latest collection and announces the closure of the Fashion House.

After leaving the podium, almost twenty years Elsa was engaged in the education of her granddaughters - the daughters of Yvonne - Maris and Bury. Having acquired a home in Tunisia, Elsa Schiae gave in to memories and wrote the book "My Shocking Life".

Elsa Schiaparelli: quotes from a past life

• "In complicated times, fashion always becomes outrageous."
• "If you do not see your copies, it means that you are standing still."
• "A dress does not have a life of its own if it is worn."
• "A woman should choose her toilets alone or accompanied by a man."
• "It's better to buy a little, and only the most expensive."
• "A woman must pay her bills herself."

Elsa Schiaparelli died on November 13, 1973.