Shocking Life [Paperback]

Elsa Schiaparelli (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2007

“She knew everyone from Paris to Hollywood, collaborated with the Surrealists, and left her indelible mark on the world of fashion.” —Vogue

“She slapped Paris. She smacked it. She tortured it. She bewitched it. And it fell madly in love with her.”— Yves Saint Laurent

“A dress from Schiaparelli ranks like a modern canvas.”—Janet Flanner, The New Yorker

Elsa Schiaparelli (1890–1973) was one of the leading fashion designers of the 1920s, ’30s, and ’40s. Her fascinating autobiography, first published in 1954, charts her rise from a rat-infested apartment in Rome, to success in fashion, through the war years when she worked for the American Red Cross, to her eventual role as designer to the stars.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Elsa Schiaparelli (1890–1973) is best known for translating Surrealism into fashion art. Known for her flair for the unusual, she was the first to use shoulder pads and animal prints, and is the inventor of shocking pink. Her garments are part of the permanent costume and textiles collections at major museums.

Product Details

• Paperback: 222 pages
• Publisher: Victoria & Albert Museum (March 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1851775153
• ISBN-13: 978-1851775156
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #705,158 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars You left wandering where the 'shocking' was left...., June 7, 2009

By 

GUSTAVO PRADO RGUEZ "gaprado" (Mexico City) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Shocking Life (Paperback)

For a fashion designer that in her time invented the newspaper print, the bottle perfume made as a little body -now copied by Gaultier-, the first zipper in a haute couture dress and a variety of items from hats to shoes and dresses inspired by surrealism and dada, this autobiography lacks of real interest in design and fashion.

Have you ever met such a lady so fascinated with herself that she always thinks everything she does from open a beer can to walk her dog is a world event? This is precisely the case here. Even when is not boring to read, Elsa seem to forget her real contribution to fashion design, and then what we get is a collection of traveling and social acquaintances. Once and then she just drop, 'and that was the time when I made the Roi Soleil -a perfume with a bottle designed by Dali, commemorative of the end of french occupation-' or I made a hat....
Her quite serendipitious arrive to fashion design when she order a knitted sweater to be made on her with a big ribbon drawn in the front by some armenian woman, was spotted in the street and get an order for dozens of them, was then continued by a career of many extravagancies -skeletons, lobster dress, a shoe-hat, that made her in that times more famous than Coco Chanel.

She stopped her career after the world war, when she was not able to be in tone with the zeitgeist and went into oblivion, when you read this book and just have the vague mention of Marcel Duchamp -his lover Maria Martins-, Dali, Paul Poiret, Greta Garbo, Lucien Lelong, even Chanel and Dior, but never get any interesting detail about them, you start to realize that maybe Elsa was to much intoxicated by herself to even be aware of the extraordinary presences she has in front of her eyes. And left guessing if she was just extraordinary lucky to be at the right time and place with a knitted sweater and drawn ribbon. By a very strange self censorship we do not get even the slightly glimpse into her love life or any spicy anecdote about anyone in the surroundings either!
it has some little pages with a few black and white photographs of her, her dogs and daughter -never the dresses- and at the end of each chapter a cute fashion drawing made by herself.

Nevertheless can be read easily and stands as a portrait of the time between the wars in Europe and America... if only she would stop and tell us a little about her process, how she get inspired, what she thought about the garment construction, how she organized the atelier, etc. then it would be something of real interest for the designer and the aficionado, and not just a curiosity of interest only for the fashion historian -like me-.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Shockingly charming, March 13, 2010

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S. Goodman (Sacramento, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Shocking Life (Paperback)

An absolutely charming little read, it lacks a lot of in depth discussion about her creative process, but it makes up for it in the delightful characterization of one of the most fascinating women designers of the 20th century. Schiap, as she refers to herself in the 3rd person (before switching fluidly back to 1st person), comes across the pages as a singular force powered by innate stubbornness and an insatiable curiosity about life. She breaks rules with a wink and a nod, bends conventions with effortless ease, and conveys the triumphs and disappointments of her remarkable life with self-effacing humor and tenderness.

It's not a deep, soul-searching autobiography, but neither is it complete fluff. She managed to strike the balance between exposing herself and keeping some things a tantalizing mystery... Something many of today's celebrity autobiographers could learn from.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars schiaparelli, April 25, 2010

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STELLA H. BRAY-CONRAD - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Shocking Life (Paperback)

Great read, she speaks of herself in third and first person, a reflection nf how she saw herself and her work.