As the must-see exhibit at the Costume Institute of The Metropolitan Museum of Art “Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations” details the fashion careers of Elsa Schiaparelli and Miuccia Prada.
Elsa Schiaparelli was not only a fashion icon. She was a designer who revolutionized the fashion industry with her invocations that still are influencing fashion seventy years after her last runway.
Here are a couple of facts about Elsa Schiaparelli, and her life that will have you sounding like a fashion industry insider in no time.
Enter Chanel – Coco Chanel famously once said Schiaparelli “that Italian artist who makes clothes.”
Friends with Dali – Elsa is known for her collaboration with the Surrealist artist Salvador Dali that brought surrealism to fashion during the 1930s. Among Schiaparelli’s artist friends are Jean Cocteau, Meret Oppenheim and Man Ray.
Moulin Rouge – Many celebrities adored the designs of Schiaparelli, but none more so then Zsa Zsa Gabor. Zsa Zsa had Elsa design all her costumes for the 1952 classic “Moulin Rouge.”
Photo Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
