Fashion designer noted for her designs inspired by Surrealist art.
Elsa was born in 1890. She was the daughter of Celestino Schiaparelli and Maria de Dominitis. Elsa was an Italian fashion designer. Along with Coco Chanel, her greatest rival, she is one of the most prominent figures in fashion between the two World Wars.
One of her first designs was the wrap dress, first appearing in 1930 and a design revisited in the 1970’s by American fashion designer, Diane Von Fürstenberg. Elsa had no technical training in pattern making and construction, rather relying on impulse and a moment of inspiration as the work progressed, draping fabric directly on the body. Her signature color was shocking pink.
Elsa Schiaprelli opened her fashion house in 1930’s at 21 Place Vendôme. She spent the war years in New York. When she returned after the war, fashion had changed and herfashion house struggled until shutting down December 1954, the same year that her rival Chanel returned to the design business.
She passed away in 1973 in her apartment 22, rue de Berri in Paris (8th arrondissement)[1].
Burial was at Cemetiere Saint Éloi in PIcardy, France.
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