Walking downtown on Fifth Avenue, I notice a dead bird in the street. So many cars have driven over the pigeon, it looks like an Anselm Kiefer painting. At Eighty-second Street, a three-block line snakes down the steps of the Met, all the way to the Eighty-fifth Street transverse, then swings back six blocks along Fifth Avenue down to Seventy-ninth. Thousands of people are waiting for the Metropolitan Museum to open. There wasn’t a line like this for Vermeer or Scythian gold. Not for the Egyptians or Matisse. It’s eight-twenty. At nine-thirty, the doors to Savage Beauty, the exhibition of the clothes and accessories of Alexander McQueen, will open. Coming toward me, a man pushes a metal rack along the pavement. Hangers are hung with what looks like newspapers. As he draws closer, I see they’re dresses made out of The New York Times, elaborate dresses with pleated skirts, panniers and ruffs. Schiap made clothes out of silk printed with her newspaper reviews. On The Times Web site, Bill Cunningham, the great chronicler of fashion, comments on the McQueen show: “Schiaparelli showed all of this in a mad fling before World War II.” Then he adds, “It’s happening everywhere all over again!”
I see the show. I see it three times. And yes, Schiap did do all of it first: anatomical dresses, hats as masks, the matador as muse, pagoda shoulders, the human exoskeleton, the circus, industrial painting, taxidermy, the eroticism of death, feathers, feathers, feathers and flowers, flowers, flowers. And tartan. (Schiap and McQueen were both part Scot.) “You’ve got to know the rules to break them,” McQueen said. “That’s what I’m here for, to demolish the rules but to keep the tradition.” Both were driven by anarchy. Both reveled in the Surrealist obsession with metamorphosis. Both brought theatricality to the everyday. Both tortured unorthodox materials into something unimaginable and dreamlike to take your breath away. Clothes with head-on visual impact. Clothes that snatch you into their world and force a response. Clothes that meet André Breton’s maxim: “Beauty will be convulsive or will not be at all.” The following year, the Met has a Schiap/Prada show and Schiap’s influence pervades every inch of it.
Walking down the hallway leading to her bedroom she passes her self-portrait. She’d given it to her mother but now Audrey is dead and her self-portrait is hers again. Audrey had good things to say about her work but she was not the kind of mother who would hang a daughter’s painting simply because it was done by her daughter. The self-portrait is based on a grid, 660 squares meticulously drawn on white hot-press Bainbridge board with a Koh-i-Noor Rapidograph and Higgins India ink. The idea was to fill in as few of the squares as possible, each with transparent color, and still render a recognizable face. As each square was filled, she stepped back to see if that was enough to be her. She kept filling one square at a time, stepping back, then filling in another square, until she began to see herself emerge. That was when she stopped. She had in mind what Schiap’s friend and collaborator Alberto Giacometti wanted to do: Take away as much as you can while still communicating what a thing is. Pare it to its essence. (Although now, when she looks at the portrait, she knows she could have reduced it more.) She was interested not only in the power of reduction. She was interested in how much the viewer was willing to participate to make an object (in this case, a particular face) recognizable. How willing is a viewer to fill in the blanks? Georgia O’Keeffe is not mentioned in Shocking Life but Schiap was good friends with Alfred Stieglitz and actively participated in life at his galleries. Had Schiap known O’Keeffe? Though no biographies suggest they crossed paths, how could they not have met? O’Keeffe was living with Stieglitz in New York when Schiap made his acquaintance. They became good friends. She likes thinking Georgia and Schiap knew each other and respected each other’s work. Her self-portrait reminds her of what Georgia O’Keeffe said about her adobe home in Abiquiu: “I want nothing I can get along without.”
Schiap wanted to see who could throw it the farthest. Risk-taking to her was a form of expression. Perhaps what drew me to Schiap most was her ability to run with an idea, to tweak it almost beyond endurance, something Audrey could not do. Something, in fact, Audrey did not approve of. What Audrey wanted for me above all was the antithesis of magic. What she wanted for me was a life safe from disappointment. If I asked my mother for eye hooks to make a fishing pole, she’d give me twenty reasons why it wouldn’t work. It was her job to be practical and put an end to harebrained schemes. She was an idea-quasher, a mocker, a fierce opponent of invention, a dream-killer, all in the name of guardianship. But I felt alive when I was dreaming. Trying to make a dream real was better than failure. You got ideas from failure. Failure was never not interesting.
I used to not know how to feel about my mother. What word has more interpretations than “love”? “Love” means something different to every person who says it and every person who hears it. “Love” has as many meanings as there are people. I know that now. And I know that every big event in a life—work, love, children, loss—is filtered through the lens of what you need to see at that time—even when you are ten.
Schiap made clear the value of probing an idea, of turning it over, playing with it like a squirrel with a nut. She revered meaning. She took joy in her work. She helped me learn how to see, the ripe kaleidoscopic pure pleasure of looking. I take her with me. Daydreaming, to Audrey, was perilous, something to “snap out of.” Being original, being yourself to my beautiful beloved mother was not safe. Being original, being yourself to Elsa Schiaparelli was life-giving. She made a hat out of a shoe. Reading that at ten, I knew: Anything is possible.
It’s easy to pick out George Washington Carver. He always wore a peanut-flower boutonniere.
Schiap’s Skeleton Dress (left). Alexander McQueen’s Spine Corset by Shaun Leane (right).(illustration credit 20.2)
“I want nothing I can get along without.” (illustration credit 20.4)
Schiap and O’Keeffe. I imagined two such extraordinary artists were friends. (illustration credit 20.5)
Transformative Books
THE TRANSFORMATIVE BOOK OF TEN PEOPLE IN THIS BOOK
Audrey Morgen Volk
Marie Antoinette by Stefan Zweig
Cecil Sussman Volk
White Fang by Jack London
Jo Ann Volk Lederman
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
Marcel Proust
Galland’s The Arabian Nights
Adolf Hitler
The Riddle of the Jew’s Success by F. Roderich-Stoltheim
Elvis Presley
The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran
Polly Ann Lieban Morgen
Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter
Hillary Clinton
1984 by George Orwell
Elsa Schiaparelli
The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
Mattie Sylvia Lee Myles Weems Watts
The Holy Bible
THE TRANSFORMATIVE BOOK OF TEN OTHER PEOPLE
Michelle Obama
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
Barack Obama
The Power Broker by Robert Caro
Robert Caro
Captain Horatio Hornblower by C. S. Forester
Nora Ephron
A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Marilyn Monroe
How Stanislavsky Directs by Michael Gorchakov
Oprah Winfrey
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Toni Morrison
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Steve Jobs
Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
Steven Spielberg
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Ludwig van Beethoven
Lives of Noble Grecians and Romans by Plutarch
Acknowledgments
Thank you, Jo Ann Volk Lederman, Joel Conarroe, Dr. Martin Bergmann, Gail Gregg, Molly Haskell, Frances Kiernan, Lily Tuck, Amy Hempel, Sidney Offit, Brad Gooch, Anka Muhlstein, Stephen Deutsch, Etheleen and Allen Staley, Karen Broderick, Robin Desser, Jennifer Kurdyla, Gloria Loomis, Julia Masnik, Ken Leach, Sara Ce
dar Miller, Harold Reed, Kelly Gonda, Dilys Blum, Harold Koda, Emanuelle Beuvin, Leslie Chin and the New York Society Library. A particular thank-you to Master New York Map-Maker John Tauranac, whose perfect images I made less perfect. “Thank you” barely scratches the surface for my friend Mark Woods and his photographs. Bless the Guggenheim Foundation for a solid year of research and writing. And for their essential and generous hospitality, bless the Corporation of Yaddo, Susan Calhoun and Charlie Moss.
Bibliography
Addressing the Century: 100 Years of Art and Fashion. White Dove Press, 1998.
Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2011.
Baudot, François. Elsa Schiaparelli. Universe Publishing, 1997.
———. Fashion & Surrealism. Assouline, 2001.
Baxter-Wright, Emma. The Little Book of Schiaparelli. Carlton Books, 2012.
Blum, Dilys E. Shocking!: The Art and Fashion of Elsa Schiaparelli. Philadelphia Museum of Art, in association with Yale University Press, 2003.
Charles-Roux, Edmonde. Chanel. Collins Harvill, 1989.
Fashion Book, The. Phaidon, 1998.
Kurth, Peter. Isadora: A Sensational Life. Little Brown, 2001.
Lacroix, Christian, Patrick Mauries, and Oliver Saillard. Christian Lacroix on Fashion. Thames & Hudson, 2007.
Marcel Duchamp Étant Donnés: Manual of Instructions. Philadelphia Museum of Art, in association with Yale University Press, 2009.
Mehring, Christine. Wols Photographs. Busch-Reisinger Museum, 1999.
O’Keeffe, Georgia. Some Memories of Drawing. University of New Mexico Press, 1974.
Pile, Stephen. The Incomplete Book of Failures: The Official Handbook of the Not-Terribly-Good Club of Great Britain. E. P. Dutton, 1979.
Rubin, William. Dada, Surrealism, and Their Heritage. Museum of Modern Art, 1968.
Schiaparelli, Elsa. Shocking Life. E. P. Dutton, 1954.
Tomkins, Calvin. Duchamp: A Biography. Henry Holt, 1996.
Turner, Elizabeth Hutton. In the American Grain. Counterpoint, 1995.
Tuska, Jon. The Films of Mae West. The Citadel Press, 1983.
Vaughan, Hal. Sleeping with the Enemy: Coco Chanel’s Secret War. Alfred A. Knopf, 2011.
West, Mae. Goodness Had Nothing to Do with It. Belvedere Publishers, 1959.
White, Palmer. Elsa Schiaparelli: Empress of Paris Fashion. Rizzoli International, 1986.
Wood, Ghislaine. Surreal Things: Surrealism and Design. V&A Publications, 2007.
Zohm, Volker. Art Fashion. Mondi Textil GmbH, 1991.
Illustration Credits
Unless otherwise noted, all photographs are from the author’s personal collection. We have tried to identify all copyright holders; in case of an oversight and upon notification to the publisher, corrections will be made in subsequent printings.
col.2: [Elsa Schiaparelli, half-length portrait, facing front], 1952. New York World-Telegram and the Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection (Library of Congress).
1.1: Courtesy Evertt Collection, Inc.
1.2: Salvador Dalí, Spanish, 1904–1989, Mae West’s Face Which May be Used as a Surrealist Apartment, 1934–1935, gouache, with graphite, on commercially printed magazine page, 283 × 178 mm (sight), Gift of Mrs. Charles B. Goodspeed, 1949.517, The Art Institute of Chicago. © 2008 Salvador Dalí, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York 2012.
1.3: Bridgeman Art Library Limited. © Salvador Dalí, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York 2012.
1.4: © Imperial War Museum (CH 83) (detail).
1.5: Vogue, December 1937.
2.1: Photographic compositing by Mark Woods (Mark-Woods.com).
2.2: Courtesy Ken Leach; Modern Library logo is used by permission of Random House, Inc.
2.4: Jack Lake Productions, Inc.
2.5: Design by John Tauranac © Tauranac, Ltd., 2012. All Rights Reserved. Printed with Permission.
3.1: Teddy Piaz.
3.2: Collection Clo Fleiss, Paris. © 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ProLitteris, Zurich. Image editing by Mark Woods (Mark-Woods.com); © 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ProLitteris, Zurich. Image editing by Mark Woods (Mark-Woods.com).
3.4: Philadelphia Museum of Art: Gift of Mme Elsa Schiaparelli, 1969. © 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ProLitteris, Zurich. Image editing by Mark Woods (Mark-Woods.com).
3.5: Elsa Schiaparelliz, 12/6/1939. © 2012 The Associated Press.
3.6: Photograph by Mark Woods (Mark-Woods.com).
3.8: Photograph by Mark Woods (Mark-Woods.com).
3.9: © Norbert Nowotsch.
4.1: Photograph by Mark Woods (Mark-Woods.com).
4.3: Vanni / Art Resource, NY.
4.4: Alinari / Art Resource, NY. Photographic compositing by Mark Woods (Mark-Woods.com).
4.5: Photographs by Mark Woods (Mark-Woods.com).
5.1: Droits Reserves Schiaparelli archives.
5.2: Philadelphia Museum of Art: Gift of the Cassandra Foundation, 1969. © 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris / Succession Marcel Duchamp.
5.3: Philadelphia Museum of Art: Gift of the Cassandra Foundation, 1969. © 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris / Succession Marcel Duchamp.
6.2: © 2012 Man Ray Trust / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris.
6.3: Salvador Dalí Spanish, 1904–1989, Venus de Milo with Drawers, 1936. Painted plaster with metal pulls and mink pompons, 385⁄8 × 12¾ × 133⁄8 in. (98 × 32.5 × 34 cm). Through prior gift of Mrs. Gilbert W. Chapman, 2005.424, The Art Institute of Chicago. © 2008 Salvador Dalí, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York 2012 (detail). Model wearing a black wool coat with eight bureau-drawer pockets, inspired by Salvador Dalí, and a hat with a patent-leather fence on top, both by Schiaparelli (detail). Cecil Beaton © Condé Nast Archive / CORBIS. Photographic compositing by Mark Woods (Mark-Woods.com).
6.4: Photofest.
7.2: Bundesarchiv, Bild 102–11505 / photographer: unknown / License CC-BY-SA 3.0, www.bundesarchiv.de/picture-archives. Photographic compositing by Mark Woods (Mark-Woods.com).
7.3: Courtesy Mark McMunn, grandnephew of Cosme McMoon; (inset) © Lebrecht Music & Arts / The Image Works.
7.4: Photograph by Mark Woods (Mark-Woods.com).
7.5: Photograph by Mark Woods (Mark-Woods.com).
7.6: Photograph by Mark Woods (Mark-Woods.com).
8.2: © Philippe Halsman / Magnum Photos.
8.3: Photograph by Mark Woods (Mark-Woods.com); Image copyright © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image Source: Art Resource, NY.
9.1: Courtesy New York Public Library. Photographic compositing by Mark Woods (Mark-Woods.com).
9.2: Image editing by Mark Woods (Mark-Woods.com).
10.1: Philadelphia Museum of Art: Gift of Mme Elsa Schiaparelli, 1969.
10.2: © V&A Images / Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
10.3: Photographs by Mark Woods (Mark-Woods.com).
11.1: © TIME, Inc.; Photograph by Mark Woods (Mark-Woods.com).
11.2: Photographs by Mark Woods (Mark-Woods.com); Photofest.
11.3: Photo by John Phillips / Getty Images.
11.5: Bridgeman Art Library Limited. © 2012 Man Ray Trust / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris.
11.6: © 2012 Man Ray Trust / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris; © Sky & Telescope. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission. Image editing by Mark Woods (Mark-Woods.com).
11.7: Image copyright © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image Source: Art Resource, NY; Schiaparelli, in a surrealistic mood, designs this red satin, visored evening cap with an elongated peephole for the eye. A diamond clip from Van Cleef & Arpels makes a weird eyebrow. Ca. 1936. © Bettmann / CORBIS.
11.8: Photograph and photographic compositing by Mark Woods (Mark-Woods.com).
12.2: Photographs by Mark Woods (Mark-Woods.com).
&
nbsp; 13.1: Designed by John Tauranac © Tauranac, Ltd., 2000; Revised, 2012. All Rights Reserved. Printed with Permission.
13.2: S.M. Productions.
13.3: Photograph by Mark Woods (Mark-Woods.com).
13.4: Photograph by Erika Blitzer.
14.3: Schiaparelli family archive.
15.2: Photograph by Mark Woods (Mark-Woods.com).
15.3: Courtesy LALIQUE. © 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris.
15.5: Photograph by Mark Woods (Mark-Woods.com).
15.7: Photo by John Phillips / Time Life Pictures / Getty Images; Photograph by Gail Gregg.
16.1: Kevin Schafer / Minden Pictures.
17.2: Philadelphia Museum of Art, Archives: Gift of Jacqueline, Paul and Peter Matisse in memory of their mother, Alexina Duchamp. © 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris / Succession Marcel Duchamp.
17.3: (all) Photographs by Mark Woods (Mark-Woods.com).
17.5: CBS Photo Archive / Getty Images; (inset) Photo by Roland Schoor / Getty Images.
18.1: Image copyright © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image Source: Art Resource, NY.
18.4: Photograph by Mark Woods (Mark-Woods.com).
19.1: Anatomy, 1930, by Man Ray. © 2012 Man Ray Trust / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris.
19.2: Photograph by Mark Woods (Mark-Woods.com).
19.3: © Martyn F. Chillmaid.
19.5: Photograph by Mark Woods (Mark-Woods.com).
19.6: Photograph by Mark Woods (Mark-Woods.com).
Shocked: My Mother, Schiaparelli, and Me Page 16