She invented the zipper, turned the usual fashion show into bright show suggested to wear evening dresses with costume jewelry, opened the world's first boutique, created the first collection of knitted sweaters for women and gave the ladies a two-piece swimsuit. “Elsa knows how to go too far,” contemporaries said about Elsa Schiaparelli, and Salvador Dali simply idolized her. They didn't have love story. They had something more. This crazy couple turned their dreams, nightmares, desires and feelings into colors, shapes and fabrics that took the world by storm.
The work of Elsa Schiaparelli not only made her a model of fashion and style, but also led to her appearance worst enemy- Coco Chanel. There is still a rumor that Koko once at a party in a cafe deliberately pushed a candle from the table onto Elsa in order to set fire to her dress. After that, Schiaparelli, a fashion designer from Italy and a native of an aristocratic family, declared an unspoken war on the creator of the Chanel Nº5 fragrance.
She soon became the celebrity everyone wanted to meet, the fashion designer and designer everyone wanted to collaborate with. And someone completely fell in love with Elsa's madness, and it was famous El Salvador Dali.
When dreams and desires become reality.
The story of the enmity between Elsa and Coco, trendsetters in women's fashion in the 20s and 30s, has become one of the most interesting conflicts in history. In this war of talent, people have not only learned what women are ready for because of hatred. However, they were similar. These women have experienced many heartbreaks, but have not given up in the name of their passion for fashion.
Their different styles (one preferred pink and surrealism, and the other black and classic) also led to the fact that various artists and designers were drawn to them like moths to a fire. Dali was no exception, who simply could not pass by the "shocking Pink colour”, used by Schiaparelli in almost all of his projects, and even more so could not ignore her symbolic madness.
Schiaparelli hats.
Salvador Dali, the man who made surrealism a utopia, literally fell in love with Schiaparelli's imagination and became obsessed with her ambitions. Before that, the life of a designer was not particularly successful. The aristocratic family shunned Elsa because of her whimsical appearance and the loneliness that has always accompanied her. Elsa married early in search of someone close, but she soon felt she had made the worst mistake of her life.
The marriage broke up, and the girl remained in Paris with her little daughter in her arms and without a penny in her pocket. Given all these misfortunes, Dali and Elsa (when they began to cooperate) felt something in common: first, they were against the whole world. Also, both imagined, created and materialized works of art that no one before them could even think of. This couple of crazy people turned their dreams, nightmares, desires and feelings into colors, shapes and textures that took the world by storm.
Drawing inspiration from each other's work.
Although Schiaparelli and Dali have never had anything more than friendship, the Catalan artist considered the fashion designer one of his sources of inspiration. Gala, Salvador's lover and muse, wore a hat shaped like a shoe that Elsa created because a surrealist once told her that he preferred to sleep with a shoe on his head. Dali inspired Schiaparelli to create the Shocking perfume, or to be more precise, he advised her to make a bottle in the shape of a mannequin. Elsa, in turn, inspired the surrealist genius to create the painting Woman with a Head of Roses (1935).
Elsa Schiaparelli jewelry inspired by insects.
It was Elsa who told the artist about this vision of a woman with a flowering head, who once dreamed that a bouquet of flowers began to grow from her ears and nostrils, and her mother stopped “considering her ugly”. Eccentric stories were the basis of the friendship between Dali and Schiaparelli. Together they became the center of attention artistic world, and high society looking for new entertainment to admire.
While fashion shows, inspired by entomophobic (insect phobia) surrealism, and paintings based on the life of an innovative artist, survived almost entirely from the fashion world of such personalities as "The Hat" (Coco Chanel gave this nickname to Elsa).
Oh, that Dali.
A dress inspired by Salvador Dali's lobster painting, in which the fashion designer depicted a still life of lobster and parsley, was the pinnacle of the couple's success. When the Duchess of Windsor Wallis Simpson, who was a respected client of Chanel, ordered such an outfit for herself, envy and competition between the two designers escalated to the limit.
Interestingly, around the time the defiant, witty and erotic character Dali's paintings have been criticized. However, it was the success of The Woman with a Head of Roses, written from Elsa's words, that restored the artist's reputation. At this time, Time magazine published a photo of Schiaparelli as the best designer on the cover.
The same lobster.
However, war and hard times for Europeans led to the fact that Schiaparelli's outrageous fashion became irrelevant, and this allowed Coco Chanel to climb the “throne” again, with her love of black, elegance and rigor, which were very different from Schiaparelli's surrealism and riot of colors. This did not happen with Dali's surrealism, and to this day he is a person whom everyone recognizes and remembers.
Unfortunately, many of Elsa's designs, inspired by Salvador's paintings, were forgotten. The fashion world began to be dominated by Coco Chanel, with her "little black dress" and exclusive Chanel Nº5 perfume. Spirit sculptures and perfume mannequins created by Schiaparelli were forgotten, and creative process and bold experiments gave way to the classics.
Great couple.
The woman who inspired Dali with her madness and ambition was in fact neither his mistress nor a surrealist artist. She was a fashion designer who decided that pink sequined clothes and insect-inspired jewelry were the ultimate expression of style.
Many people knock on wood, try not to walk under stairs, or carry some kind of "good luck" charm (like a rabbit's foot). Such rituals are, of course, the fruit of superstition: the comforting belief that a ritual or object has the power to bring good luck or ward off evil.
« It's peculiar human nature: the desire to control what is perhaps not in our power. To one degree or another, it affects almost everyone.”, says Ellen Weinstein, an illustrator, writer and art critic from New York.
Being a deeply superstitious person, she has always been interested in the rituals that people resort to in the hope of ensuring their success, productivity or creativity. But Ellen does not disclose her personal practices. " If I tell about them, they will lose their power. Weinstein laughs. But he willingly shares the superstitions of remarkable personalities.
In April 2018, Ellen released the book " Recipes for good luck: superstitions, rituals and practices extraordinary people ". The text and its playful illustrations reveal superstitious habits 65 famous artists, designers, musicians, scientists, athletes, writers.
Illustration for Mary Shelley's ritual.
Their routines range from unexpected to highly eccentric. For example, the writer Mary Shelley worked with a boa constrictor around her neck and interpreted the snake's movements as instructions to keep writing or wrap up. And Frida Kahlo worked better after taking care of the garden.
The rituals are extremely diverse, but the people who practice them are united by a deep passion for their occupation and a desire to succeed in their work, Weinstein said.
Below are excerpts with illustrations from Ellen's book, in which she spoke about bizarre rituals "for good luck" creative people From Yoko Ono to Salvador Dali.
Coco Chanel and lucky number 5
Illustration for the superstition of Coco Chanel.
The French fashion designer Coco Chanel (1883-1971) was from among the deeply superstitious people. A fortune teller once told her that 5 was her lucky number. Therefore, Coco called her famous fragrance "Chanel No. 5". Also in her apartment hung a crystal chandelier twisted into the number 5, and she preferred to present her collections on the fifth day of May (the fifth month of the year).
Pablo Picasso held on to his "essence"
Illustration for the superstitions of Pablo Picasso.
The Spanish artist Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) did not throw away his old clothes, cut hair and nails for fear of losing part of their "essence". He collected own works, and at the time of his death the artist owned about fifty thousand own works: from engravings and drawings to ceramics and theatrical scenery. Picasso is one of the most prolific and influential painters of the last century.
Charles Dickens and Dreaming North
An illustration of the superstitions of Charles Dickens.
Charles Dickens (1812-1870) carried a compass with him to determine the cardinal directions, and always look north when dreaming. In his opinion, this practice improved him writings and helped with creativity. Dickens, who created Big hopes” and “Christmas stories”, there was also social critic. He was guided by a strong moral compass, which was evident in his sharp images socio-economic realities.
Yoko Ono and lighting a match
An illustration of the superstitions of Yoko Ono.
The famous avant-garde artist, singer and artist Yoko Ono was very sensitive to sound and light in her youth. She found that lighting a match and watching the flame go out in a dark room made her feel better. It repeated this ritual constantly until it calmed down. Later this personal habit became part of a performance called Lighting Piece.
Diane von Furstenberg and a lucky gold coin
Illustration for the ritual of Diana von Furstenberg.
Fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg always kept a gold twenty-franc coin, which her father hid in his boot during World War II and gave to his daughter as a child. Before every fashion show, she put a coin in her shoes. Good luck. Von Furstenberg is the creator of the legendary wrap dress, known for her projects in more than fifty-five countries around the world.
Frida Kahlo and gardening
Illustration for Frida Kahlo.
Paintings Mexican artist Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) for the most part autobiographical and filled with plants and flowers she grew in the garden of the house she shared with the artist Diego Rivera. The well-kept garden of Kahlo was a place of comfort and inspiration for her, where she spent hours caring for plants, fruit trees and flowers. Frida's desk was by a window overlooking the garden. And even when she returned home from the hospital before her death, she asked to move the bed to the window so that she could see the garden.
Dr. Seuss and hats from creative block
Illustration for the ritual of Dr. Seuss.
The writer and cartoonist Theodor Seuss Geisel (1904-1991), better known as Dr. Seuss, collected huge collection from almost 300 hats. When faced with writer's block, he would go to his secret closet, select a hat, and wear it until inspiration returned. This quirk helped him create The Cat in the Hat, The Grinch Stole Christmas, and more. most popular books, with which Dr. Seuss became the best-selling author on English language for small children.
Salvador Dali and the Spanish driftwood
Illustration for Salvador Dali's ritual.
The artist, graphic artist and sculptor Salvador Dali (1904-1989) considered himself superstitious and carried with him a small piece of Spanish driftwood, which was supposed to ward off evil spirits. He was one of the most well-known representatives surrealism. Known for his eccentricity, Dali once almost choked to death while giving a lecture in a diving suit and helmet.
Agatha Christie and apples in the bathroom
Illustration for the ritual of Agatha Christie.
Agatha Christie (1890-1976) is one of the most famous authors detective prose. famous English writer, the creator of Murder on the Orient Express, nibbled on apples in the bathroom while concocting murder mysteries. This practice certainly brought her success. During her career, Christie wrote more than sixty detective novels, 19 collections of short stories and a number of plays, including The Mousetrap, which is still shown on the stage. Agatha Christie's novels have sold billions of copies around the world.
Coco Chanel (fr. Coco Chanel).
Coco Chanel - her real name is Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel (fr. Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel).
Chanel was born on August 19, 1883. It seems needless to say that Chanel was a French fashion designer whose inspiration and modernism made her one of the most famous in the history of fashion in the 20th century - everyone knows this.
And it all started in small town Saumur, where Chanel's parents ended up - Albert Chanel and Jeanne Devol. Koko's father was a traveling merchant and did not sit in one place. For a while, his parents were not legally married - he needed a girlfriend, but not a wife. Jeanne was not of such an opinion, she loved Albert, and her love was so strong that, most likely, it was no longer just love, but a disease. She could not part with Albert, no matter what it cost her. Jeanne had to earn money to support all the arriving family members with hard work: work in the kitchen, piles of linen. She had to struggle to get a place in the kitchen, a place as an ironer or a maid. Her health was fading, but she was ready to bear everything, just to be near her husband. Jeanne died when Gabrielle was only six years old. And then her father left her with her brothers and sisters. From that moment on, Gabrielle was in the care of relatives, then at the orphanage to which she was sent when she was 12 years old. At 18, Coco with help charitable organization ended up in a boarding school for children from noble families. And then she got a job as a seller in a fabric store in the city of Moulin. She dreamed of becoming a singer and free time in the cafe "Rotonda" she sang the songs "The one who saw Coco" and "Ko-Ko-Ri-Ko". That's when they called her Coco.
Chanel soon met a wealthy heir, Etienne Balzan. He had an estate near Paris where he bred horses. She agreed to his proposal to become a mistress - she had long wanted to move to Paris and, moreover, Gabrielle knew that you had to pay for everything in life. It was here that she became an excellent rider and began to make her delightful hats, which conquered everyone with their novelty and charm. And it was here that she realized how women bow to men, trying to please, and lose the battle.
For herself, Koko decided that from any battle, she would emerge victorious. As a child, she lacked love, she was surrounded by indifference - all this left its mark. And Gabrielle learned to fight and win, and most importantly, she learned to sew. And whatever she did - a hat or clothes that sat on her so well that one could not think about it - everything attracted the attention of others. And then Chanel realized that she had something that should be used, that is, the gift of creative thought, and most importantly, the ability to survive.
Balzan was succeeded by Arthur Capel, a wealthy heir to the coal mines, an excellent businessman who died in 1919 in car accident. He helped her become business woman. In 1910, she opened her first shop in Paris, selling women's hats, a year later her fashion house was opened on Rue Cambon, where it is now.
Simplicity and luxury were in the creations of Chanel. She managed to remove the corset from the minds of women, took advantage of masculine elegance to create in the wardrobe of women such free and necessary things as shirts for men, ties, riding trousers, jackets that were austere and at the same time charm, superiority and obedience. In 1918, Chanel expanded her business. She delighted with a black lace and beaded tulle evening dress, a beige jersey coat-dress ensemble. All this seemed simple, but at the same time luxurious - a real miracle of tailoring.
“Fashion is something that exists not only in clothes. Fashion is in the air. It is connected with our thoughts and our way of life, with what is happening around us.”
Her best creations: a little black dress, which, in 1926, American Vogue magazine equated with the popularity of the Ford car and called it the "Ford" of fashion, cascades of pearls on a plain twine, two-tone pumps, pumps, a fitted jacket, a white camellia silks, which have become symbols of her brand. Her jewelry had a stunning effect, combining the luxury of emeralds or pearls with excellent costume jewelry of her own. Combination precious stones with artificial ones was a bold find, which she used as luxurious jewelry.
Her brooches, made of colored glass and over the shoulder, made a stunning effect, they were subsequently made by various fashion companies around the world. They are still considered classics, and women of fashion are ready to give decent amounts for them.
Her little black dress could be worn day and night, adding a string of pearls or other accessories.
The ideas that she created at the beginning of the 20th century have remained eternal because elegance is not influenced by time. The motto of the appearance of her models was simplicity and mobility. Chanel made many of her discoveries by peeping this or that image or some element, among folk clothes. For example, the Russian style with embroidery and fur trim, geometric patterns, rubberized raincoats, the model of which she saw when she saw her in her chauffeur's clothes. She was the first to use knitwear in women's wardrobe.
Chanel was on friendly terms with many people of art: Picasso, Diaghilev, Stravinsky, Salvador Dali, Jean Cocteau and did not stay away from the avant-garde trend. But she never changed her principles. For her, a hat in the shape of a telephone or a skirt in which you could not walk, but only mince, were unacceptable. Therefore, what was later called the "look of Chanel" meant an uncompromising look at fashion, where there is a measure and convenience in everything and no extremes. “We must always clean up, remove everything superfluous. There is no need to add anything ... There is no other beauty but the freedom of the body ... ". Becoming a fashion designer, she experienced satisfaction and believed that she won when her ideas were picked up by the street, and her models were on common people. Her principles were to create simple, strict models with clear lines, models that emphasize strengths and hide weaknesses.
Chanel provided material support to many artists. For example, she financed some productions of the Russian Ballet, supported the composer Igor Stravinsky for many years, and helped pay for the treatment of Jean Cocteau.
In the dexterity with which she was able to give chic to any product, one felt not only taste, but above all the ability to “make something out of nothing”.
Her clients learned to please, going against the existing fashion. Gabrielle had no shortage of ideas, and she knew how to sell, just like her father and grandfather did in her time. Gabrielle inherited family qualities - she was hardy at work. Work and succeed... Chanel did not draw her models, she created them with scissors and pins, right on the fashion models. A few hand movements were enough for her to create luxury from formless matter. Sometimes ideas came to her in a dream, she woke up and started working.
She worked 12-14 hours a day and demanded the same from her colleagues. Not everyone was given to endure such work. Chanel possessed a combination of aristocracy and, at the same time, tough business acumen. When she set a goal for herself, she always achieved it. According to rough estimates, in the 20-30s of her model business gave $200-300 thousand a year.
Chanel was a great artist. She wanted to create not only new silhouettes, but also to bring new sensations to life. Many years later it would be called "lifestyle".
Coco Chanel, one of the representatives of haute couture, was included by Time magazine in the list of the 100 most influential people XX century.
She marked her fortieth birthday with the release of a completely new perfume, in which there is no smell of one flower. She was assisted in this Grand Duke Dmitry and Russian emigre perfumer Ernest Bo.
The Second World War. In 1940, she had to turn to a German diplomat to rescue her nephew, who was captured. She had known the diplomat for a long time. And when he helped her, her affection for him increased even more. At the end of the war, circumstances develop in such a way that Chanel has to leave France for almost eight long years. She was accused not only of love affair with the German baron, but also in contact with the head of the department foreign intelligence Germany Schellenberg, assistant to the commander of the "SS" Heinrich Himmler.
She was threatened with arrest. Winston Churchill himself stood up for Chanel, who once wrote about her in his diary: “The famous Coco arrived, and I admired her. This is one of the most intelligent and charming, the most Strong woman that I have ever dealt with."
Chanel closed all her boutiques and left for Switzerland.
From there, she followed the changes taking place in the fashion world. New couturiers appeared, such as Hubert de Givenchy and others. Chanel was 71 years old when she returned to Paris again and offered her collection. But the show of her models took place in complete silence public. Chanel wanted to prove to everyone that fashion changes and style remains, but the press said that she did not offer anything new. But not everyone can understand that elegance is eternal. Chanel improved her models, and a year later almost all fashionistas considered it an honor to dress at Chanel. The famous Chanel suit has become immortal, you feel comfortable and free in it, and this is also thanks to the right fabric - light tweed. The suit guarantees reliability in all situations.
Chanel handbags, shoes and jewelry have become classics. In the 60s, she collaborated with Hollywood studios. Chanel fashion will not become obsolete, because it contains the philosophical concept of Chanel: "To look great, you do not have to be young and beautiful."
Chanel left our world on Sunday, January 10, 1971, at the age of 88, in a room at the Ritz Hotel in Paris. Time Magazine estimated her annual income at $160 million.
However, she never extolled wealth and did not praise money. Chanel found among prominent artists those friends she was proud of. Although her life was completely subordinated to work - the creation of clothes, the most important thing for her was love. What is striking about her is not only the success that she has achieved, not only her popularity, but also the fact that she managed to remain mysterious. Incredible Chanel...
Like Chanel, her sign is immortal: two intersecting letters C - Coco Chanel and a white camellia on a black satin bow.
since 1983 he has been the head of the Chanel fashion house and Karl Lagerfeld is its chief designer.
Coco Chanel biography
In the near future, it will be possible to learn about the great quirks and compare with your own only in English. But we have translated several excerpts from the book and share "recipes for good luck" from Chanel, Picasso, Dali and other geniuses.
Most likely, many of us knocked on wood, avoided walking under stairs, were frightened when salt spilled, and were afraid to step forward if a black cat crossed the road. These actions and reactions are products of superstition - the belief that this or that object has the power to bring good luck or, conversely, to attract evil.
Writer and illustrator Ellen Weinstein writes, "It's human nature to want to control things that are out of our control."
A deeply superstitious person, Weinstein has always been fascinated by the rituals that people invent and cultivate in the hope of achieving success, prosperity, or other victories.
It comes out this month A new book"Recipes for Luck: The Superstitions, Rituals, and Practices of Eminent Creatives". The book talks about superstitious habits 65 famous people: artists, designers, musicians, scientists, athletes and other celebrities. Their "recipes" range from unusual but understandable to very eccentric and outrageous. Model and TV presenter Heidi Klum, for example, takes her baby teeth with her wherever she goes. The writer Mary Shelley wrote with a boa constrictor around her neck and interpreted the direction of the snake's movement as a sign: to continue the text or postpone it for later. And Frida Kahlo once noticed that she paints better after working in the garden.
“What the characters in the book have in common is that they all have a deep passion for what they do,” Weinstein says. “If you are indifferent to your work, you do not need to invent a ritual or superstition to attract good luck.”
Below we present excerpts from Weinstein's book that tell about the superstitions of legendary figures, in which they drew inspiration and creative energy.
The French fashion designer Coco Chanel (1883-1971) was deeply superstitious. Once she was told that 5 is her lucky number, and she named her famous fragrance accordingly. Her house even had a crystal chandelier made of figures twisted in the shape of a five. She also liked to show her collections on the fifth day of May (the fifth month of the year) - by chance.
Famous artist, singer and activist Yoko Ono was very sensitive to sound and light in her youth. She found that lighting a match, watching the fire, and then abrupt darkness brought her relief, new strength and peace. Later, this ritual became part of a performance called Lighting Piece, created in collaboration with the artists of the Fluxus movement.
Fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg has gold coin twenty francs, which her father hid in a boot during the Second World War and then gave to his daughter when she was a girl. Later, Diana began to hide the coin in her shoes for good luck before each of her fashion shows.
For the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, it was important to create next to plants. Her paintings, often autobiographical, are in fact always filled with greenery. Frida's garden, where she spent hours growing fruits and flowers, was a place of relaxation and inspiration for her. The artist's desk looked exactly at the garden from the window, and her last request before death, it was necessary to rearrange the bed so that her favorite view opened in front of her.
The Spanish surrealist painter Salvador Dali (1904-1989) considered himself very superstitious and carried a small piece of Spanish driftwood with him to ward off evil spirits. Dali was known for his passion for shocking, which once almost cost him his life: he almost choked to death, giving a lecture in a helmet and diving suit.
She invented the zipper, turned the usual fashion show into a bright show, offered to wear evening dresses with jewelry, opened the world's first boutique, created the first collection of knitted sweaters for women and gave the ladies a two-piece swimsuit. “Elsa knows how to go too far,” contemporaries said about Elsa Schiaparelli, and Salvador Dali simply idolized her. They didn't have a love affair. They had something more. This crazy couple turned their dreams, nightmares, desires and feelings into colors, shapes and fabrics that took the world by storm.
The work of Elsa Schiaparelli not only made her a model of fashion and style, but also led to the appearance of her worst enemy - Coco Chanel. There is still a rumor that Koko once at a party in a cafe deliberately pushed a candle from the table onto Elsa in order to set fire to her dress. After that, Schiaparelli, a fashion designer from Italy and a native of an aristocratic family, declared an unspoken war on the creator of the Chanel Nº5 fragrance.
She soon became the celebrity everyone wanted to meet, the fashion designer and designer everyone wanted to collaborate with. And someone completely fell in love with Elsa's madness, and it was the famous Salvador Dali.
The story of the feud between Elsa and Coco, trendsetters in women's fashion in the 20s and 30s, has become one of the most interesting conflicts in history. In this war of talent, people have not only learned what women are ready for because of hatred. However, they were similar. These women have experienced many heartbreaks, but have not given up in the name of their passion for fashion.
Their different styles (one preferred pink and surrealism, and the other black and classic) also led to the fact that various artists and designers were drawn to them like moths to a fire. Dali was no exception;
Salvador Dali, the man who made surrealism a utopia, literally fell in love with Schiaparelli's imagination and became obsessed with her ambitions. Before that, the life of a designer was not particularly successful. The aristocratic family shunned Elsa because of her bizarre appearance and the loneliness that always accompanied her. Elsa married early in search of someone close, but she soon felt she had made the worst mistake of her life.
The marriage broke up, and the girl remained in Paris with her little daughter in her arms and without a penny in her pocket. Given all these misfortunes, Dali and Elsa (when they began to cooperate) felt something in common: first, they were against the whole world. Also, both imagined, created and materialized works of art that no one before them could even think of. This couple of crazy people turned their dreams, nightmares, desires and feelings into colors, shapes and textures that took the world by storm.
Although Schiaparelli and Dali have never had anything more than friendship, the Catalan artist considered the fashion designer one of his sources of inspiration. Gala, Salvador's lover and muse, wore a hat shaped like a shoe that Elsa created because a surrealist once told her that he preferred to sleep with a shoe on his head. Dali inspired Schiaparelli to create the Shocking perfume, or to be more precise, he advised her to make a bottle in the shape of a mannequin. Elsa, in turn, inspired the surrealist genius to create the painting Woman with a Head of Roses (1935).
It was Elsa who told the artist about this vision of a woman with a flowering head, who once dreamed that a bouquet of flowers began to grow from her ears and nostrils, and her mother stopped “considering her ugly”. Eccentric stories were the basis of the friendship between Dali and Schiaparelli. Together, they became the focus of the art world as well as high society, eager to find new entertainment to admire.
At that time, fashion shows inspired by entomophobic (insect phobia) surrealism and paintings based on the life of an innovative artist almost completely survived from the fashion world of such personalities as "The Hat" (Elsa gave this nickname to Coco Chanel).
A dress inspired by Salvador Dali's lobster painting, in which the fashion designer depicted a still life of lobster and parsley, was the pinnacle of the couple's success. When the Duchess of Windsor Wallis Simpson, who was a respected client of Chanel, ordered such an outfit for herself, envy and competition between the two designers escalated to the limit.
Interestingly, around that time, the defiant, witty and erotic nature of Dali's paintings was criticized. However, it was the success of The Woman with a Head of Roses, written from Elsa's words, that restored the artist's reputation. At this time, Time magazine published a photo of Schiaparelli as the best designer on the cover.
However, the war and difficult times for Europeans led to the fact that Schiaparelli's outrageous fashion became irrelevant, and this allowed Coco Chanel to climb the "throne" again, with her love of black, elegance and rigor, which were very different from surrealism and a riot of colors. Schiaparelli. This did not happen with Dali's surrealism, and to this day he is a person whom everyone recognizes and remembers.
Unfortunately, many of Elsa's designs, inspired by Salvador's paintings, were forgotten. The fashion world began to be dominated by Coco Chanel, with her "little black dress" and exclusive Chanel Nº5 perfume. Spirit sculptures and perfume mannequins created by Schiaparelli were forgotten, and the creative process and bold experiments gave way to the classics.
The woman who inspired Dali with her madness and ambition was in fact neither his mistress nor a surrealist artist. She was a fashion designer who decided that pink sequined clothes and insect-inspired jewelry were the ultimate expression of style.
