b Protagonists

  Schiaparelli, together with Chanel, was one of the first stylists to understand that prêt-à-porter, with its standard sizes which could be mass-produced, would be fashion’s winning combination. Completely overturning well-established concepts on how one must dress, she designed evening raincoats, glass dresses, fuchsia capes with large golden suns embroidered …

  From that year onwards Elsa Schiaparelli was considered Coco Chanel’s main rival in the world of French fashion. They had opposite styles: Chanel’s was rigorous and simple, Schiaparelli’s rich and creative; they had opposite backgrounds: the first came from a poor family, the second from an aristocratic one. However, …

  Only after an investment of 100 thousand francs did she register her brand and move the fashion house to Rue de la Paix. After that her imagination runs wild: sporty garments inspired by African and cubist themes, or fabrics with newspaper cuttings, dresses with surreal giant lobsters, animals yet …

  Evidently it was here that Elsa Schiaparelli came into close contact with the world of contemporary fashion. In the words of Schiaparelli herself, it appears that her love affair with fashion began after she visited the atelier of Paul Poiret in Faubourg Saint-Honoré with a friend. Poiret, the Great …

  She moved to Londonin 1913 to care for orphan children and here she met count William de Wendt de Kerlor, whom she married in the beginning of 1914. In1919 the couple moved to New Yorkand in 1920 their daughter was born, whom they named Gogo. However their marriage failed …