Elsa Schiaparelli
Italian born Elsa Schiaparelli (1890-1973) was the leading designer of the 1920s and 30s after Coco Chanel. She had a flair for the unusual and even hired Salvador Dalí to design fabric, producing a white dress with a lobster print.
She made her name with black knit sweaters with a white bowtie pattern knitted in. She was the first to use shoulder pads, hot pink, calling it shocking pink, in 1947, animal print fabrics, and zippers dyed the same colors as the fabrics. She is also well known for her surrealist designs of the 1930's, especially her hats, including one resembling a giant shoe, and one a giant lamb chop. She collaborated with many surrealist artists, Dalí, Jean Cocteau, and Alberto Giacometti, between 1936 and 1939.
She opened her first salon, Pour le Sport, in 1927, and as the name indicates specialized in sportswear. In 1935 Schiaparelli she moved to a salon overlooking the Place Vendôme. Her output slowed by World War II and the title of trendsetters going to younger designers such as Christian Dior, her couture house declared bankruptcy in 1954 and she moved to the USA.
