September 25-October 1, 2003

art

Shocking Think

In vogue: Curator Dilys Blum hopes the exhibit will inspire young designers. At right, Schiaparelli c. 1937. Photo By: Michael T. Regan

Elsa Schiaparelli’s intellectual couture is remembered in the first major retrospective of her work.

by Robin Rice

When asked to name her favorite item in Shocking! The Art and Fashion of Elsa Schiaparelli, curator Dilys Blum picks two: an ensemble and a textile, an appropriate pairing for the curator of costume and textiles at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Even Blumís favorite ensemble utilizes marvelous fabrics. The imaginatively cut brown evening dress (1934) is executed in the heavily textured crêpe Schiaparelli aptly called "treebark." A contrasting short wing-collared jacket is made of glossy, darker crinkled taffeta. Blum likens Schiaparelliís use of bold irregular textures and synthetics to that of Issey Miyake.

Blum's favorite textile appears in a floor-length, harlequin-patterned wool felt coat from Schiaparelli's 1939 commedia dell'arte collection. Composed of graduated lozenges of primary colors plus black and white, the faceted patchwork is strongly reminiscent of the cubist painting Le Beaux Temps, which her friend, Man Ray, did the same year.

Elsa Schiaparelli, (clockwise from top left), evening coat in rayon and silk fringe (1953); gloves in black suede and red snakeskin (1936-37); dinner dress in white rayon with multicolor printing (1946); boots in black suede and monkey fur (1938).

If new, these garments could be worn today without appearing dated. "When you look at the clothing, you can't believe most of it is 70 years old," Blum marvels. Although, as she said of all Schiaparelli's clothes, "You'd have to have a lot of confidence to wear them because they would stand out."

With her great rival, the attractive Coco Chanel, Schiaparelli dominated the world of couture between the wars. During the Second World War, Chanel closed and produced no collections for 15 years. She reopened her salon in 1954, the year Schiaparelli closed hers. Chanel, who struggled from poverty and ignominy to achieve professional distinction, regarded the couture as a profession. Schiaparelli always insisted it was an art.

Schiaparelli -- who was born in Rome in 1890 and later made her home in Paris, London and the U.S. -- came from a family of intellectuals. Her father was a scholar of Arabic and Islamic studies, influences that regularly surfaced in her work. She saluted an astronomer uncle in her Lucky Stars collection (winter 1938-39).

A book of her poetry was published in 1911. After a marriage to a persuasive but inconstant theosophist, Schiaparelli found her way to couture through the friendship of Gabrielle Picabia, wife of the painter Francis Picabia (she and Schiaparelli both eventually divorced), and encouragement of mentor Paul Poiret. In 1927, her sweaters knit with trompe l'oeil bows attracted international attention, effectively launching her career. Later innovations included the use of zippers as decorative elements, the first tennis costume with a divided skirt, a backless "speakeasy" evening gown with a pleated, bustle-like compartment for stashing a flask, a fabric print composed of newspaper clippings (inspired by Picasso's and Braque's collages) and a knitted amorphous "mad cap." Nearly forgotten today, the latter was so universally copied that Schiaparelli discarded the design in disgust.

Schiaparelli was a member of the artistic community of Paris and Parisian New York. In New York during the war, she organized a surrealist exhibition with Duchamp and André Breton. She owned artworks by Cocteau, Dalí, Modigliani, Picasso, Yves Tanguy and Pavel Tchelitchew. Dalí collaborated with her many times, including on the production of a shoe-shaped hat. An interaction with Meret Oppenheim resulted in Oppenheim's signature work, Déjeuner en fourrure. Giacometti designed ashtrays and other items for her salon on the Place Vendôme.

She created clothing for many stage productions and films, including costumes for Mae West in Every Day's a Holiday and Zsa Zsa Gabor in Moulin Rouge. Her regular clients included the Duchess of Windsor, Marlene Dietrich and Katharine Hepburn.

The most complete retrospective of Schiaparelli's work ever begins with a video of a 1960 interview by Charles Collingwood. "We see her in her home, which is a wonderful, wonderful period piece," Blum says. Nearly 200 objects, many from Schiaparelli's generous gift to the museum of models that she personally draped, are brilliantly contextualized by Blum's meticulous research. "The show is a visual feast. You can't skip one single object. There is repetition but the nuances are very striking: the way she structures her garments, the details, the way she puts in the shoulders and pockets. I'm hoping it will inspire some young Philadelphia designers."

Schiaparelli was barely 5 feet tall and had been told from childhood that she was ugly. "She was not French-looking," Blum comments diplomatically. "She thought of herself as being homely." She designed clothing that flattered many women. "Her garments were high-waisted, broad-shouldered and designed to elongate the figure."

In her book, Blum writes, "The substitution of chic for beauty during the 1930s was just one aspect of an entire rethinking of what it meant to be feminine." Schiaparelli herself looked elegant in the 1930 ensemble she regarded as her greatest success. Widely copied, the black crêpe de Chine with a white jacket tied at the waist was the first evening dress she made for one of her collections.

Though she wore black for work, Schiaparelli was a great colorist. Her poetic imagination endowed specific colors with evocative names, an aspect of the four themed collections she presented each year. Shocking pink was introduced in 1937. Other colors still familiar to us include: royal, pansy, della robia, ice and horizon blues, as well as wheat yellow.

Blum describes the book that accompanies the exhibition as a "photo essay." It's much more than that, but it does explore historical context through visual comparison of captioned historical black-and-white photographs with contemporary photographs of the same objects. Extensive commentaries and chronologies add layers of meaning.

One effective juxtaposition on facing pages: a snapshot of the couturière bowling in leopard-skin bootees, Schiaparelli's sketch of the ensemble for which the bootees were originally created and a large color picture of the same well-worn shoes as they appear in the exhibition.

Designers who have paid homage to themes and forms inaugurated Schiaparelli include Geoffrey Beene, Prada, Zandra Rhodes, John Galliano and Jean Paul Gaultier.

In her autobiography, Schiaparelli wrote, with a certain pathos, "A dress cannot just hang like a painting on the wall, or like a book remain intact and live a long and sheltered life. A dress has no life of its own unless it is worn, and as soon as this happens another personality takes over from you and animates it, or tries to, glorifies or destroys it, or makes it not a song of beauty. More often it becomes an indifferent object, or even a pitiful caricature of what you wanted it to be -- a dream, an expression." These dreams stir to life again in this beautiful exhibition.

"Shocking! The Art and Fashion of Elsa Schiaparelli," through Jan. 4, 2004, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 26th St. and the Parkway, 215-763-8100.