Surrealism in Fashion:
The Avant-garde Designs of
Elsa Schiaparelli
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Elsa Schiaparelli:
1890- 1973.
an important
avant-garde
fashion designer
worked in Paris
in the 1920s & 30s.
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Schiaparelli & Chanel
worked during the same
period. Both started out
designing sweaters
— but this is
where the
similarities end.
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Schiaparelli was a surrealist artist that
used fashion as her medium.
She arranged realistic
images in a
nonsensical way in
her hat forms and
garment decorations.
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Elsa Schiaparelli broke down the walls
dividing art and fashion.

The Skeleton Dress
Elsa Schiaparelli
France, 1938
Silk crepe
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She considered designing an art rather
than a profession.
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Her first breakthrough
design:
the tromp l'oeil sweater.
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This was the first in a long list:
http://www.schiaparelli.com/en
She is also said to have invented:
 the "wedgie“ heel,
 shoulder pads,
 animal print fabrics.
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Surrealist artist Salvadore Dali had
a huge impact on the work of
fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli
in the 1930s.
Remember him?
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She worked with Dali to create designs
such as:
the lamb-cutlet hat,
the brain hat,
the shoe hat,
& a suit with pockets
that looked like a chest
of drawers.
Schiaparelli's Fall-Winter 1937-38
collection
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Dali custom-designed this lobster phone
for an eccentric collecter. He and
Schiaparelli then used the motif on...
Lobster Telephone 1936
Téléphone - Homard
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... this elegant lobster dress.
Schiaparelli wanted to use her designs
to make the unconventional
acceptable.
The 1937 Lobster Dress
featured a large lobster Dali
painted onto the skirt of a
simple evening gown.
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Her basic garments
were simple and
fashionable, but she
used military themes,
the zodiac, circus
images, lobsters, etc.
to add unique detail.
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She used oversized buttons in the
shape of peanuts, bumblebees, and
rams' heads — all imagery not
previously associated with fashion
garments in the 1930s.
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Left: Dinner Suit, Green silk crepe and green silk velvet embroidered
with metallic thread and red and pink rhinestones with half dome
shaped plastic buttons inset with flowers
Right: Evening jacket, Deep magenta rayon crepe embroidered with
metallic thread and polychrome sequins with plastic insect buttons
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She loved to work in black and white,
but her favourite colour was Shocking
Pink — a brilliant pink somewhere
between fuchsia and red. It became
the hallmark of her couture house.
Vintage Schiaparelli hat
boxes are still sought
after by collectors.
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HER LEGACY:
She was the first to use
brightly coloured zippers.
She made the teeth out of coloured
plastic and dyed the tape to match
fabric. Zippers became a design detail
in her sportswear and later in her
evening dresses.
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She was the first to use many
"new" technologies of her
time:
acrylic,
cellophane,
metal threads
she used synthetic materials
being used for the first time in
couture garments.
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Elsa Schiaparelli remains an
everlasting influence on contemporary
fashion.
Schiaparelli wearing
her famous shoe hat.
http://www.schiaparelli.c
om/en/collections_haute
_couture_video
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Why do you think her
work still stirs such
passion?
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Images:
www.vintage-instyle.com/.../black_white_ad.jpg
www.artsjournal.com/tobias/images/LOBSTER.jpg
www.harpersbazaar.com/cm/harpersbazaar/images
www.metmuseum.org/.../1974.338.2_1978.288
www.vam.ac.uk/images/image/13864-large.jpg
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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Baudot, Francois. Fashion: The Twentieth Century. 2006.
NY, NY: Universe Publishing, 1999
www.schiaparelli.com
shrimptoncouture.blogspot.com/2009/05/elsa-sc
www.surrealism.org
www.fashionencylopedia.com
web sources retrieved July 11, 2010
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Answer the following 2
questions in your sketchbook.
1. Schiaparelli shocked as well as
entertained the public with her belief
that good taste was less important than
creativeness, outrageousness, and
fun. Why do you think the fashion
conscious people of the 1930s
embraced her work so strongly?
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2. Her work is still
internationally
celebrated on the
Internet, in museums
and through
organizations and
conventions.
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