Welcome to the first ever published piece of WayCoolFashion media! This is an exciting moment for me – I’ve wanted to create a fashion blog for a while now but could never figure out how to start. Not so much in terms of the website or the domain or the logistics or the design or the “branding” of it all (if you can even call it branding, because this is just for fun, really). No, the task that I found the most daunting was this… my first post. It’s a lot of pressure. First impressions are everything. I wanted to write a piece that was thought-provoking, well-researched, and unapologetically me. So, of course, what better way to kick off this blog than with an ode to Schiaparelli?
The revival of Schiaparelli is so special to me. As far as creative directors go, Daniel Roseberry is it. When Schiaparelli first reopened, it floundered – the first few years were shaky, and those collections weren’t doing the brand any justice. Then, along came Roseberry who managed to breathe the life back into this powerful sleeping beauty of a brand. Every time I see one of his designs on the runway, I’m speechless. His collections are cohesive, each look seamlessly blending into the next whilst maintaining their individual distinctiveness. He’s managed to give Schiaparelli the revival it deserves by modernizing the brand, and simultaneously paying homage to its roots. Roseberry somehow balances this juxtaposition in a way that comes across as so effortless. Even as I’m writing this, he continues to make fashion history. It’s day one of the Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week and the Schiaparelli show, with its Icarus inspired collection, has blown everyone away. Schiaparelli has set the bar high and I’m excited to see what’s to come. Stay tuned for more posts on the upcoming Fashion Weeks!
We can’t talk about the revival of Schiaparelli without acknowledging its rise throughout the 20th century. Elsa Schiaparelli was a genius – a forward thinker. She was culturally aware of the world around her and was unafraid to take risks and possibly stir up some controversy. She came in at an interesting time, when Chanel was all the rage. Coco Chanel’s designs were sleek, elegant, and simple. Schiaparelli’s looks, on the other hand, couldn’t be more different. While Chanel had her little black dress, Schiaparelli had her lobster dress. Her designs were new and shocking and exciting.
Schiaparelli was heavily involved in and inspired by the art scene during her time as a designer. She had a close friendship with Gabrielle Picabia, who was an influential figure in the Dada art movement. Dadaism was the infamous “anti-art” movement that developed following World War I, at a time when people were resentful and horrified of the atrocities that had happened during the war. The purpose of Dadaism was to challenge the norms of society and make art that would shock and confuse people. This art movement was strongly anti-establishment and, although it was short-lived, went on to inspire many other movements, including Surrealist art and punk rock.
Schiaparelli had ties to both Dadaism and Surrealism, even collaborating with her good friend Salvador Dalì to make some outrageous, surrealist looks. Yes, technically Elsa Schiaparelli was a fashion designer, but she truly was an artist in every sense of the word. While other surrealist artists were using paints and a canvas, Schiaparelli’s medium was fabrics and models. Take, for example, the gloves worn with her Tears Dress. The Tears Dress was a part of her 1938 Circus Collection, a collection made in collaboration with Salvador Dalì. The Tear Dress in itself is a stunning garment, referencing Dalì’s own work, Three Young Surrealist Women Holding in their Arms Skins of an Orchestra. It’s a floor length, sleeveless sheath dress that’s fitted at the waist, with a wide bateau neck. The trompe-l’oeil design is meant to resemble pieces of torn fabric falling open to reveal the deep pink inner lining. The design is suggestive of decaying flesh, rotting away from the body – a theme that’s found in several of Dalì’s paintings. The dress was paired with a matching veil and was worn with these disturbingly fantastic gloves. The gloves are a pair of flesh coloured evening gloves with ruffles that extend dramatically along its length. I look at these gloves and it makes my skin crawl. They’re uncanny to a pair of human hands, with the ruffles providing the illusion of flayed flesh. Good art evokes emotion, and these pieces do just that. Schiaparelli wasn’t afraid to create art that was uncomfortable or disturbing, despite the likely controversy that was sure to follow. Art is fashion, and fashion is art, you cannot have one without the other. Schiaparelli’s work was conceptual in nature. She literally invented the idea of a themed collection with her Stop Look and Listen Collection in 1935. A themed collection seems so standard for fashion runways today, but Schiaparelli was just so incredibly avant-garde with her thinking. Her art-forward approach to fashion is what set her apart from the other designers at the time and is what led to such a demand for the revival of the Schiaparelli brand in the 21st century.
While Schiaparelli was heavily influenced by art, it wasn’t the only place from which she took inspiration for her designs. She was also strongly in tuned with the world around her – culture and current events played a large role in many of her looks. Schiaparelli grew her brand at a very interesting time for the world, when many major historical moments had just happened or were in the midst of happening. Sandwiched between the two world wars, during American prohibition, the Great Depression, and a time of booming industrial and technological growth. All of these changing and often tumultuous times were source material for her fashion. Take, for example, Schiaparelli’s 1931-1932 winter collection. The name of this collection was “Speakeasy”, a nod to the political and social climate surrounding her American clientele. One of my favourite pieces from this collection is the gorgeous floor length evening coat, made from a deep red fabric with a sable collar and accents on the shoulders. What was so unique about this coat is that it had a bustle at the back that was designed to conceal a flask. An aspect of fashion that is often overlooked is that fashion is inherently political. From the “I can’t breathe” shirts worn by NBA players to Bad Bunny’s skirt on The Tonight Show to, Schiaparelli’s own bulletproof inauguration gown worn by Lady Gaga. Schiaparelli’s innate ability to culturally “read the room” feeds into this dialogue of life inspiring fashion and fashion, in turn, inspiring life. Schiaparelli had this eccentric propensity of balancing the irrationality of surrealism with the practicality of ready to wear fashion, with a deep understanding of the zeitgeist of the early/mid 1900s. Her readiness to be inspired by the world is partly the reason behind the lasting cultural impact of the Schiaparelli brand today.
Clearly, with what we’ve seen within the last five years, the brand is only on the rise. In the same vein as the brand’s namesake, Roseberry is an artist with fabrics and design. He’s theatrical with his looks, whilst understanding the need for practicality with ready to wear couture. His SS22 runway, which drew inspiration from the 1938 Zodiac Collection, highlights his ability to remain imaginative and avant-garde with his designs while simultaneously paying homage to the history of the brand. I hope that within the next few years we see a collection that mirrors the 1938 Circus Collection. I would love to see Roseberry’s take on a traditional Pierrot costume; the structured collar contrasting with the airiness of the shirt and trousers provides strong source material for Roseberry’s experimental creativity. The Paris Haute Couture show has given us a taste of what to expect from the upcoming fashion weeks and I look forward to what else Schiaparelli has in store.
