20.2: © V&A Images / Victoria and Albert Museum, London; © firstVIEW.
20.4: Photograph by Mark Woods (Mark-Woods.com).
20.5: [Elsa Schiaparelli] Image copyright © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image Source: Art Resource, NY. Elsa Schiaparelli (detail) © Hulton-Deutsch Collection / CORBIS. Georgia O’Keeffe (detail) © Bett mann / CORBIS. [shoe hat] Digital Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art / Licensed by SCALA / Art Resource, NY. Photographic compositing by Mark Woods (Mark-Woods.com).
Color Illustrations:
bm.1: Image copyright © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image Source: Art Resource, NY.
bm.2: Image copyright © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image Source: Art Resource, NY.
bm.3: Image editing by Mark Woods (Mark-Woods.com); Leslie Chin, Vintage Luxury.
bm.4: Photo Les Arts Décoratifs, Paris / Jean Tholance, tous droits réservés.
Acquisition/dépôt: Don Patricia Lopez-Willshaw, UFAC, 1966
ensemble 2 pièces robe; Elsa Schiaparelli, 1937, collection été (haute couture); soie satin imprimé; soie crêpe; crin résille (techn.) longueur (en cm) 157 tour de taille (en cm) 70 largeur aux épaules (en cm) 45 longueur manteau (en cm) 151 tour de taille (en cm) 64 tour de poitrine (en cm) 79 mode et textile (UFAC).
bm.5: © V&A Images / Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
bm.6: Philadelphia Museum of Art: Gift of Mme Elsa Schiaparelli, 1969. Image copyright © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image Source: Art Resource, NY. Image editing by Mark Woods (Mark-Woods.com).
bm.7: Philadelphia Museum of Art: Gift of Mme Elsa Schiaparelli, 1969 Costume and Textiles; Philadelphia Museum of Art: Gift of Mme Elsa Schiaparelli, 1969 Costume and Textiles.
bm.8: Image editing by John Muggenborg.
My favorite Schiaparelli design: The Bug Necklace. The bugs, made by Jean Schlumberger, crawled around the neck on an invisible Rhodoid collar. (illustration credit bm.1)
The Big Dipper is embroidered on this velvet dinner jacket from Schiap’s 1938 Zodiac Collection. (illustration credit bm.2)
“Le Roy Soleil.” The features of the face are birds in flight, Schiap’s symbol of freedom. (illustration credit bm.3)
“Snuff” was the first perfume for men. The presentation came in a cigar box. The scent, in a glass pipe.
Schiap invented the backless dress and used it on her Butterfly Gown. To keep the butterflies from flying away, she trapped them in a Butterfly Net Coat. Furthering the Surrealist motif, she accessorized her ensemble with a matching parasol of free-flying butterflies. (illustration credit bm.4)
Everything has the potential to delight. Even, say, a button. (illustration credit bm.5)
A vase? Lovers kissing? Jean Cocteau drew this optical illusion for Schiap. Beading and embroidery by Lesage. (illustration credit bm.6)
Little white gloves were not available at 21, place Vendôme. (illustration credit bm.7)
The Most Beautiful Woman in the World in the World’s Most Beautiful Necklace. (illustration credit bm.8)
A Note About the Author
Patricia Volk is the author of the memoir Stuffed: Adventures of a Restaurant Family and four works of fiction. A recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, she has taught at Columbia University, New York University, and Bennington College, and has written for The New York Times, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, and Playboy. She lives in New York City.
Other titles by Patricia Volk available in eBook format
Stuffed: Adventures of a Restaurant Family • 978-0-307-42799-1
To My Dearest Friends • 978-0-307-26742-9
For more information, please visit www.aaknopf.com
Shocked: My Mother, Schiaparelli, and Me Page 17