Schiaparelli and the Artists

“Visually and intellectually stimulating.”

Even though the title of the book seems self-explanatory the contents are actually far broader. The term artist is not just applied to those who paint and sculpt but to authors, illustrators, interior designers, photographers, and even a cartoonist. The book speaks not only to the fashion that Schiaparelli created but also to her esthetics, beliefs, and visions when it came to art and life in general.

“Fashion must sense the trend of history and precede it.” —Elsa Schiaparelli

Each of the “artists” has a chapter devoted to them which explains how each of them interacted with the designer and the works that were the result of that collaboration or association. The authors of each of these tales are as distinguished as their subject and each sheds some unique light on the subject at hand.

Schiaparelli and the Artists is both coffee table book and a book that demands to be read. This reader/reviewer was quite fascinated despite being somewhat over-informed on the subject of Schiaparelli. The informed reader will of course know the genesis of the lobster dress or the shoe hat but how many will know of her associations with Andy Warhol or Raymond Peynet and for that matter who was Raymond Peynet? Wait until you read who created some of her couture buttons and who contributed to the success of her fashion jewelry business.

Visually and intellectually stimulating.