Elsa Schiaparelli S Private Album

An elaborately illustrated, highly personal look at one of the most prominent fashion figures of the 20th century Elsa Schiaparelli is one of the most important couturiers and taste-makers of the 20th century. She numbered among her collaborators the artists Salvador Dalí, Jean Cocteau, Christian Berard, and Marcel Vernet, resulting in such extraordinary couture collaborations as the lobster and parsley dress, based on a print by Salvador Dalí, and the Circus collection of gold-embroidered jackets, based on drawings by Cocteau. These artists also became personal friends of Schiaparelli's and made wonderful screens and other works of applied art for her house in Paris, photographs of the interiors of which have never been published. Now, the actress Marisa Berenson reveals her private archive of pictures of her much-loved grandmother's house in all its wit and eccentricity and pens an affectionate first-hand memoir of "Schiap."

Since Charles Fredrick Worth established his luxurious Maison de Couture in 1858, the interior has played a crucial role in the display of fashion. House of Fashion provides a full historical account of the interplay between fashion and the modern interior, demonstrating how they continue to function as a site for performing modern, gendered identities for designers and their clientele alike. In doing so, it traces how designers including Poiret, Vionnet, Schiaparelli and Dior used commercial spaces and domestic interiors to enhance their credentials as connoisseurs of taste and style. Taking us from the early years of haute couture to the luxury fashion of the present day, Berry explores how the salon, the atelier and the boutique have allowed fashion to move beyond the aesthetics of dress, to embrace the visual seduction of the theatrical, artistic, and the exotic. From the Art Deco allure of Coco Chanel's Maison to the luminous spaces of contemporary flagship stores, House of Fashion sets out fashion's links with key figures in architecture and design, including Louis Süe, Robert Mallet-Stevens, Eileen Gray, and Jean-Michel Frank. Drawing on photographs, advertisements, paintings and illustrations, this interdisciplinary study examines how fashionable interiors have shaped our understanding of architecture, dress, and elegance.

Over the last 180 years designers have propelled fashion from an elite craft into a cornerstone of popular culture. This brilliantly written guide to the lives and collections of 55 iconic fashion designers draws on the latest academic research and the best of fashion journalism, including the authors' own interviews with designers. Beginning with 19th century couturier Charles Frederick Worth and concluding with the star names of the 2010s, Polan and Tredre detail each designer's working methods and career highlights to capture the spirit of their times. This beautifully illustrated revised edition features five new designer profiles: Hedi Slimane, Raf Simons, Phoebe Philo, Alessandro Michele and Demna Gvasalia. It's also been updated throughout to reflect a fashion world in constant ferment, with designers swapping jobs and fashion houses at unprecedented speed. The industry has expanded into a global phenomenon - and designers have emerged as true celebrities; The Great Fashion Designers explores their passion and flair to show us fashion at its most inspirational.

An American woman becomes entangled in the intense rivalry between iconic fashion designers Coco Chanel and Elsa Schiaparelli in this captivating novel from the acclaimed author of The Beautiful American. Paris, 1938. Coco Chanel and Elsa Schiaparelli are fighting for recognition as the most successful and influential fashion designer in France, and their rivalry is already legendary. They oppose each other at every turn, in both their politics and their designs: Chanel’s are classic, elegant, and practical; Schiaparelli’s bold, experimental, and surreal. When Lily Sutter, a recently widowed young American teacher, visits her brother, Charlie, in Paris, he insists on buying her a couture dress—a Chanel. Lily, however, prefers a Schiaparelli. Charlie’s beautiful and socially prominent girlfriend soon begins wearing Schiaparelli’s designs as well, and much of Paris follows in her footsteps. Schiaparelli offers budding artist Lily a job at her store, and Lily finds herself increasingly involved with Schiaparelli and Chanel’s personal war. Their fierce competition reaches new and dangerous heights as the Nazis and the looming threat of World War II bear down on Paris.

The first biography of the grand couturier, surrealist, and embattled figure (her medium was apparel), whose extraordinary work has stood the test of time. Her style was a social revolution through clothing-luxurious, eccentric, ironic, sexy; synonymous with fashion innovation and chicesse. She was audacious; her fashions were inspired from the whimsical to the most practical-from a Venetian cape of the commedia dell'arte to a Soviet parachute. She collaborated on her designs with some of the greatest artists of the twentieth-century: on jewelry with Jean Schlumberger; on clothes with Salvador Dalí; with Jean Cocteau, Alberto Giacometti; with photographers Man Ray, Horst, Cecil Beaton, and the young Richard Avedon. Her name: Elsa Schiaparelli. She was known as the Queen of Fashion; a headline attraction in the international glitter-glamour show of the late twenties and thirties; she gave fabulous parties-and went to those given by others; she lived and worked seriously and hard in much-photographed residences and was a guest at others; she knew the "everybodies" who were always "there" and inevitably became one of them herself, feted in Rome (where she was born), Paris, New York, London, Moscow, Dallas, Hollywood, Dublin. Now, Meryle Secrest, acclaimed biographer-whose work has been called "enthralling" (WSJ); "captivating" (WP Book World); "Rich in detail, scrupulously researched, sympathetically written" (NYRB), and who has captured the lives of many of the twentieth-century's most iconic, cultural figures, among them: Frank Lloyd Wright, Bernard Berenson, Leonard Bernstein, Duveen; Richard Rodgers; Modigliani; Stephen Sondheim-gives us the never-before-told story of this most extraordinary fashion designer, perhaps the most extraordinary fashion designer of the twentieth-century, who in her time was more famous than Chanel.

At an early age, BillyBoy* chose two mentors: Bugs Bunny and Elsa Schiaparelli. From Bugs Bunny, he learned the basics of how to behave in society and how to manage life’s wicked turns; to be coy, smart, witty, and to always dress appropriately with the assurance of Beau Brummell. But most of all, his cartoon mentor taught him a lighthearted approach to life, and an entertaining charm that is to personality what humor is to good conversation. From Schiaparelli, who he discovered at age fourteen through a very strange hat in a Paris flea market, he learned the meanings of love and art. His human mentor opened doors that he “never even dreamed existed,” as the title character says to her nephew in Auntie Mame. As Schiap turned into a genuine passion, she became a golden thread that led to all sorts of discoveries, encounters, and inspirations over the next forty years. A wealthy orphan with a glamorous but complicated background, BillyBoy* adopted the legendary designer as a guardian angel of sorts, and has spent a lifetime searching for her, through her clothes. Inspired by Shocking Life, Schiaparelli's own memoir, FROCKING LIFE will resonate with anyone who loves fashion and flamboyant storytelling. Built around some of the most iconic pieces ever created by the designer, this book is about endless discoveries, and the meaning that can be transmitted, across decades, by a simple piece of clothing. Peopled by dazzling characters from Schiaparelli's own inner circle and the worlds of art and fashion— Saint Laurent, Vreeland, Warhol to name a few—this is a scintillating yet profound homage to a woman who saw life as art, and inspired a young boy to do the same. BillyBoy* has always been a strange fruit and it must be said, not everyone could have a bite of it. The press adored him since he was, as author Edmund White wrote, “good copy.” In fact, his thrilling journey through fashion, culture, and art are deeply tied to what he wore for each occasion. One day, it is a skintight silver lamé studded outfit by Nudie Cohen (the designer of Elvis Presley’s elaborate ensembles), which was originally made for David Cassidy. For a tea with the Begum Aga Khan at the Ritz, he played the part of the dandy in a conservative suit with impeccable tie, topped by a Vivienne Westwood/Malcolm McClaren Buffalo hat adorned with a silk lettuce leaf. For an interview at home with German Vogue, he transformed into a sex kitten in hot pants and an Yves Saint Laurent sheer blouse. This book is both BillyBoy*'s personal story of his intense spiritual and metaphysical journey through life, and also his authoritative insight into the life and work of Elsa Schiaparelli who became such an influence on him. As an historian and collector, his close examination of the milieu of European and American, Scandinavian and Asian high fashion and his detailed research into Schiaparelli's haute couture seasonal collections (and her vast number of licensed fashion and accessories) will appeal not only to fashionistas and haute couture devotees and collectors. It explores their relationship to her era, through the many friendships and relationships with the iconic people in fashion he forged over four decades. Anecdotes of varied stars in all aspects of culture will interest those who study 20th-century art and history.

"The first biography of the grand couturier, surrealist, and embattled figure (her medium was apparel), whose extraordinary work has stood the test of time"--

Published on the occasion of the couture house’s ninetieth anniversary, this book celebrates Elsa Schiaparelli’s shared creative passion with the twentieth century’s most esteemed artists. Known for her bravado and boundary-pushing dresses, Elsa Schiaparelli is undoubtedly one of the greatest icons of twentieth-century fashion. After launching her eponymous haute couture house in Paris in 1927, the Roman-born designer captured the attention of the world at large not only thanks to her trompe l’oeil patterns and surrealist forms—but also because of her creative relationships with some of the epoch’s most renowned artists. From Salvador Dalí, who collaborated with Schiaparelli on her infamous Lobster Dress to Alberto Giacometti’s furnishings for her salon and René Magritte, whose surrealist works inspired some of the designer’s creations, this beautifully illustrated tome delves into the couturiere’s fascinating rapports with these artistic legends. Through never-before-seen photography, intimate anecdotes, and essays penned by some of today’s most authoritative fashion critics, curators, and personalities, this volume is the first definitive work dedicated to the shared inspiration between the designer and her circle of artist friends. Unique in its breadth of artwork and diverse contributors, this visually stunning book is a must for anyone interested in avant-garde art, twentieth-century fashion, or thought-provoking design.