Elsa Schiaparelli Haute Couture: A Surrealist Fashion Icon

Running Head: Elsa Schiaparelli Haute Couture
Elsa SchiaParelli Haute Couture

Elsa Schiaparelli Haute Couture
The curvy sexuality of feminine form is timeless ponder of the fashion domain especially in
the time of early twentieth century when important worldly affairs effected the notions of
femininity. There was a major turnover when the works of the designers like Elsa
Schiaparelli made a mark in female society with fashionable designs (Collins, 2002).
For understanding the designers of Elsa which were considered to be very unique and bizarre,
one has to go in the past in look in to her unusual beginnings. She was born in a very rich but
an aristocratic family. She was very creative since her childhood days. She was so hungry
with her imagination that she even consumed the texts on ancient myths and legends & wrote
volumes of poetry on Pagan culture.
Figure 1: Vam Collections, The Pagan Culture Dress, 2018, Digital Image, Vam Collections
Elsa since her beginning of life saw the end of both world wars and also the inception of
suffragette movement. That was the time when makeup was gaining popularity. The designs
of Elsa over crossed the mainstream convention with the usage of the pre-existing themes of
females and also with the conventional sketch of femininity. She created such designs
intentionally so that they provoke the change in the traditional though processes and
challenged perceptions which were pre-conceived about the retiring feminine beauty. She
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Elsa Schiaparelli Haute Couture
created designs which did not show flesh of women but also raise the idea of hiding feminine
sexuality in plain sight (Christie, 2013).
Schiaparelli’s designs were surrealist and they reflected her spirit in those designs. Her
designs were made to create a trademark in the fashion industry and that is what happened.
As her designs got the popularity, women were wearing her clothes everywhere and liked
them on their own bodies. Elsa worked with Salvador Dali and she recognized a fresh wave
of fetishism in trend by creating the designs that alluded to physique and her designs
intentionally represented women on erotic map. In the early 19th Century women were
discouraged wearing revealing clothes but Elsa’s clothes were like that and they were likes by
everyone (Mitchell, 2004).
Figure 2: Vogue, Attending Jacques Fath's ball in costume, 2018, Digital Image, Vogue
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