• 1890 – Elsa Luisa Maria Schiaparelli is born in Rome on September 10th.

• 1913 – Schiaparelli moves to London, where she meets and marries the Theosophist Wilhelm Wendt de Kerlor.

• 1916 – The couple moves together to New York. Four years later, their daughter Maria Luisa Yvonne Radha is born.

• 1922 – After the separation, Elsa Schiaparelli moves to Paris with her daughter.

• 1924 – The French poet and writer André Breton publishes his work “The Manifesto of Surrealism,” which significantly influences Schiaparelli.

• 1925 bis 1926 – At the insistence of Paul Poiret, she becomes the designer for the house of Lambal, a small Parisian label.

• 1927 – Elsa Schiaparelli establishes her own fashion label in Paris in collaboration with Charles Kahn, co-director of Galeries Lafayette. The first store opens at 4 Rue de la Paix.

  She discovers a black-and-white sweater that creates the illusion of a bow, a pierced heart, a skeleton, or a sailor’s tattoo. She hires the Armenian woman to knit several prototypes. The optical illusion effect of Elsa’s sweater attracts admirers and immediately gains international popularity.

  

• 1929 – “S” is released as the house’s first perfume; a unisex fragrance.

• 1933 – She opens a store for her couture business at 6 Upper Grosvenor Street in Mayfair, London. In 1939, it closes due to World War II.

• 1934 – Schiaparelli appears on the cover of Time magazine, making her the first female designer to receive this honor.

• 1935 – The Maison Schiaparelli moves into the Hôtel de Fontpertuis, 21 Place Vendôme. The premises comprise five floors, 98 rooms, and a ground-floor boutique, as well as a beauty salon on the first floor.

  

  

  

  There, she sold new lines of innovative cosmetics, staged by the young American employee Bettina Bergery, which became a visitor attraction. These theatrical scenes often featured two articulated, wooden figures known as Pascal and Pascaline.

  

  In the same year, the first collaboration with Salvador Dalí takes place. A powder compact with the appearance of a telephone dial is created.

  Many more joint projects were to follow, such as the Lobster Dress in 1937, which would become part of the house’s creative signature.

  The American socialite Wallis Simpson achieved international fame in 1936 when King Edward VIII abdicated the British throne to marry her. As a Schiaparelli client, she ordered an avant-garde wedding ensemble in 1937, which included a version of the Lobster Dress. She was photographed in the dress by official royal photographer Cecil Beaton.

  

  

• 1941 – Due to World War II, the designer moves to the United States of America. From New York, however, she keeps the Maison open under the supervision of her right hand. Across the Atlantic, she promotes the French couture sector.

• 1942 – She organizes the first exhibition on the early Surrealist writings together with the author André Breton and the artist Marcel Duchamp. During this time, her Parisian salon is confiscated by the German occupation in Paris.

• 1945 – She returns to Paris and puts together a collection in just a few months.

• 1947 – Hubert de Givenchy is hired as Creative Director at Schiaparelli and remains there for four years before founding his own label.

• 1951 – Licenses for American manufacturers for lingerie, menswear, eyewear, and other products are granted.

• 1954 – Elsa Schiaparelli decides to close the Maison. Only the perfume division continues to operate. In the same year, she publishes her autobiography “Shocking Life.”

• 1971 – The photographer, Cecil Beaton, organizes the exhibition “Fashion: An Anthology” at the V&A, featuring the largest number of Schiaparelli’s works to date.

• 1973 – Elsa Schiaparelli dies in Paris.

• 2012 – The Maison Schiaparelli is brought back to life after its rights and archives are acquired. The couture house returns to its roots, reopening its doors at the Hôtel de Fontpertuis, 21 Place Vendôme.

• 2014 – The first fashion show since 1954 takes place.

• 2017 – Schiaparelli is granted the official Haute Couture label by the French Ministry of Industry and the Fédération française de la Haute Couture.

• 2019 – The man who will change everything, Daniel Roseberry, becomes Artistic Director at Schiaparelli.

• 2023 – The Maison presents its first ready-to-wear collection.

• 2026 – The V&A Museum in London opens the Schiaparelli: Fashion Becomes Art exhibition in March.

  

  

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Designing the Modern Wardrobe

Pour le Sport

engl. Schiaparelli for Sport

Elsa Schiaparelli initially designed clothing for sports and leisure activities. Knitted sweaters, simple tops, and skirts were her focus. These early collections reflected new ideas about modern movement, sport, and outdoor activities.

Already in the early 1930s, trousers, which women traditionally only wore for sports or at home, became Schiaparelli’s signature look.

Pour la Ville

engl. Schiaparelli for the city

Elsa Schiaparelli’s chic and functional everyday wear was the talk of the town in a 1938 interview with The New York Times. She stated that the components of modern everyday attire should include a fur coat, a tailored suit, a silk coat, and a silk dress for the evening.

Her stylish day suits were characterized by embellishments with Schiaparelli buttons and unusually placed pockets. Vibrant prints showcased the designer’s expertise, which was widely celebrated in the press.

Pour le Soir

engl. Schiaparelli for the evening

Bold, dramatic, occasionally subversive: Elsa Schiaparelli’s evening gowns and evening wear were also a great success. Her dresses were worn at balls, in the theater, and in the most renowned clubs of the world’s metropolises.

Pour le Soir
Daniel Roseberry

The Schiaparelli Jacket

Schiaparelli, with her dazzling, eye-catching jackets, embodied couture quality in unique suits that combined opulent fabrics and unusual embellishments. They were equally distinguished by sophisticated buttons and oversized pockets.

Season after season, Schiaparelli commissioned Maison Lesage for embroidery to infuse themes into her collections. Lesage’s use of flat metal strips, shimmering threads, beads, and playful motifs of flowers, shooting stars, and musical instruments made the pieces instantly recognizable as Schiaparelli designs.

Finishing Touches

Elsa Schiaparelli’s fashion accessories were consistently unconventional. Whether with spiked or gleaming hair for rhinestone hats, padded fur gloves, or sculpted hands and claws for evening gloves: the artist regarded these “finishing touch” accessories as both complements and sources of inspiration.

Today, Daniel Roseberry continues this art form by designing a range of bags, belts, hats, jewelry, and boots that create a glittering and enchanting overall look.

Creative Constellations

“The presentation of fashion was a work of art.”

Elsa Schiaparelli

Art fascinated Elsa Schiaparelli and shaped her social circle as well as her design philosophy. She worked at the center of a constellation of painters, sculptors, photographers, writers, and artisans. In Paris during the late 1920s and 1930s, she found an affinity with the Surrealists, who embraced the absurd, the erotic, and the subversive.

Both at her invitation and on their own initiative, artists created designs for Schiaparelli garments, accessories, perfume bottles, and jewelry.

Schiaparelli also commissioned artists to design her advertisements and boutiques. Her taste was eclectic, reflected in numerous portraits of her in various styles, created by her artist friends.

Schiaparelli’s collaborations strengthened her reputation. While rival designer Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel dismissed Schiaparelli as “that Italian artist who makes clothes,” her collaborations with other creatives led to some of her most memorable designs.

Schiaparelli’s legacy is unique and inspiring in a way that is truly unparalleled. When a fashion house is revived after 50 years of inactivity and consistently creates viral moments, it testifies to the creative genius established by Elsa Schiaparelli and continued by Daniel Roseberry.