Inspiration, tribute, homage or just pilfering? The Elsa Schiaparelli case

I was browsing through some images of trendy shoes and other assorted accessories for the next season and I found a picture of Sergio Rossi’s platform suede boots with goat-hair trim. The first thing that came to my mind when I saw the image were the boots lined with monkey fur created by Elsa Schiaparelli. The latter were designed after Meret Oppenheim made her famous fur-lined tea cup in response to a fur bracelet by Schiaparelli who, in turn, inspired by the tea cup created her unusual boots. A fascinating story, isn’t it? Unfortunately, behind Sergio Rossi’s boots there isn’t the same amazing tale of two artists being inspired by one another’s work nor this is a case of trends going in circles, with clothes and accessories that were fashionable decades ago becoming trendy again. This is the sort of case I have carefully filed in my mind in a virtual folder called “Schiaparelli pilfering” which keeps on growing and growing as trends come and go.

I've always admired Elsa Schiaparelli as she was a true pioneer of fashion. Born in September 1890 in Rome, Schiaparelli moved to Paris after splitting up with her husband with whom she was living in the States. It was in the French capital that she started working as a designer: her famous sporty sweater with a trompe l'oeil bow at the neckline soon became extremely popular and, as the years passed ties, scarves, crosswords and tattoos appeared on her jumpers, while Schiap’s dresses, jackets and suits became more complicated. In 1936 Schiaparelli started a collaboration with the Surrealists: inspired by his own "Venus de Milo with Drawers", Salvador Dali designed for Schiaparelli’s Autumn/Winter 1936-37 collection a skirt suit with a jacket that had drawer-shaped pockets. Dali also designed the white silk lobster dress and the skeleton evening dress that featured a padded ribcage. Another memorable collection was the one Schiaparelli dedicated in 1939 to the Commedia dell’Arte that featured an amazing multicoloured Harlequin coat paired with a tri-corn hat.

Some of Schiaparelli's most popular items were the blouses, scarves and hats that featured newspaper prints with articles about herself. Newspaper print was revived last year in a dress by Anna Sui, though it was made even more popular by John Galliano who designed shirts, hoodies, underwear and robes with prints of articles about himself.

In yesterday's blog I wrote about Jean Paul Gaultier's new perfume, but his first fragrance, Classique, evoked the bottle of Schiap's Shocking perfume, that represented the curvaceous body of actress Mae West. While Gaultier might have limited his Schiaparelli "tribute" to a bottle of perfume, J Crew relaunched last year a rather childish "lobster dress" that was infinitely less arty than Dali's (who could compete anyway?) and Japanese designer Kazuo Takashima paid homage a couple of years ago to Schiaparelli with a headress very similar to her upside-down shoe hat. Schiap's skeleton dress was instead re-adapted for men in Walter Van Beirendonck’s Autumn/Winter 2006-07 collection.

The Spring/Summer 08 season marked instead a revival of the Harlequin print that had characterised the "Commedia dell’Arte" outfits. Vivienne Westwood relaunched the Harlequin multicoloured suit in her 1989 “Voyage to Cythera” collection, but this Spring/Summer Viktor & Rolf gave the print a romantic touch while Miu Miu turned it into a modern and arty style.

Singers such as Goldfrapp and Bat for Lashes' Natasha Khan brought the theatricality of this style on stage: the first opted for sexy tight Harlequin suits, while the latter went for a more commercial style with a bespoke Harlequin suit made by Topshop.

But it’s not over yet: Eley Kishimoto did some interesting Harlequin dresses for this Autumn, though I think  the creations that really managed to capture the fun, confusion, chaos and irony behind Schiaparelli's original "Commedia dell'Arte" collection are actually those by label MoonSpoon Saloon that has recently launched some brightly coloured outfits with interesting silhouettes. The Harlequin print seems to pop up into fashion in moments of crisis - Schiaparelli did it right before the Second World War - and we do live in difficult times, so the success of this colourful style might or might not be a direct reference to Schiaparelli.

You might argue these are all coincidences, inspirations and tributes rather than just pilfering, but I wonder what will happen next year when the Schiaparelli brand will be finally resurrected. Diego Della Valle (of Tod's fame) has been thinking for two years about relaunching the brand after acquiring its rights a while back. I cringe at the very thought. Even nowadays after a designer dies there are problems at finding the right person to take over, as it happened after Gianfranco Ferrè’s death. Imagine restarting and relaunching a brand with an incredible fame and such avant-garde designs as Schiaparelli's after so many years. The challenge, I'm afraid, is almost impossible, and the results might end up being, to use Schiaparelli-like terminology, rather "shocking".   

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[Perfume Brands]

Perfumes are the only commodity that requires complete hard work and patience. Every perfume is made having its own uniqueness. I own a blog and write posts on the history and the making of perfumes