Weekend Eye Candy - Elsa Schiaparelli, 1949

Elsa Schiaparelli constructed this incredible evening gown from black taffeta in 1949.  I use the word constructed in a literal sense because if ever there was an evening gown that could be called architectural, this is it.

Paris Couture - 1937

Today, the next in our continuing series about Paris couture in the 1930s.  The year is 1937 and the beauty is in the incredible details.  Which is your favorite?

Marcel Rochas black crepe dress adorned with light blue gathered ribbons.  Note the large holes at the neckline and sleeves that the ribbons thread through.

Charles Worth black velvet dress with intricate embroidery on the bodice.

Rosevienne dress in black knitted lace.  The skin shows through where the slip isn't!

Lucien Lelong black velvet dress with a white Guipure lace bodice.  Bows accent the lace.

Elsa Schiaparelli brings the ultimate in fun details.  The black crepe suit is accented with red embroidery around the pockets in the shape of lips.  And that is her famous shoe hat in black with a red heel.

Weekend Eye Candy - Elsa Schiaparelli, 1936

Earlier this week I posted about Elsa Schiaparelli and her use of plastic zippers in the 30s.  Here is another example from her Fall/Winter line from 1935/36.  The dress on the left is a black wool knit lined in white satin.  The bodice of the dress has a white plastic zipper at the front.  Schiaparelli used the same zippers to decorate the gloves.  Love that belt with the angled buckle!

Schiaparelli and the Plastic Zipper

As a follow-up to yesterday's post on nylon coil zippers, today I'd like to clear up a bit of confusion about earlier plastic zippers.  The Lightening Fastener Company of Great Britain and Canada began experimenting with plastic in place of metal zippers in 1932.  By 1934, Japanese company YKK, US company Hookless Fastener (maker of Talon zippers) and French company Eclair all had made plastic zippers.  The teeth on these early plastic zippers were quite large, more the size of today's heavy brass industrial zippers, so they weren't really practical or attractive for use as closures on clothing.  Nylon wasn't invented until 1935, so these early zippers were likely celluloid or some other early plastic.

In 1933, Harry Houghton of Lightening Fastener's Canadian division offered Elsa Schiaparelli $10,000 (about $175,000 in today's dollar) to use their zippers in her clothing.  Schiaparelli decided to use the colorful plastic zippers as a design element in her clothing.  She shocked buyers who arrived to view her Winter collection of 1935-36 by using the plastic zippers in unexpected places and in a very visible way.  Zippers were found on pockets, necklines, sleeves and shoulder seams.

Actress Frances Drake wore this Schiaparelli wool jersey dress in the 1936 film I'd Give My Life.  A Lightening Fastener plastic zipper closes the entire front of the dress.

This Schiaparelli taffeta evening gown from Winter 1935-36 incorporates a decorative YKK plastic zipper placed diagonally on the front of the skirt.

This cotton dress by Schiaparelli is from about 1940 and was shown as part of last summer's High Style exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum.  I took this photo of the back of the dress, which has a yellow plastic zipper all the way up the back.  You can see here how chunky the zipper looks and the fact that the teeth are left exposed as a design element rather than as a practical way to close the garment.

A close-up of the chunky teeth in the zipper .

Schiaparelli did not use plastic zippers exclusively, nor did she use them when she wanted a hidden or understated closure on a garment.  The use of industrial zippers as decoration was an unusual element that became one of her signature looks.  The evening gown shown here is from about 1933-34 and uses visible heavy brass zippers at the side seam and the sleeve cuffs.

References:
Dilys E. Blum:  Shocking! The Art and Fashion of Elsa Schiaparelli (2003)
Jan Glier Reeder: High Style (2010)

Paris Frocks - 1930

A reader has requested more posts about garments from the 1930s and 40s.  Today, a look at daytime dresses and suits from Parisian designers in the spring of 1930.  You can see in these examples that the dropped waist of the 20s is moving back to the natural waistline of the 30s. Are you as much in love as I am with these?

Jean Patou blue and white tweed tissue wool suit with a linen and lace blouse.  Can you see the bracelet handle on the purse?
 

Elsa Schiaparelli wears a dress of her own design in black silk crepe backed satin.  The front skirt drape was new and "of the moment".

Two polka dotted silk crepe de chine daytime dresses by J. Suzanne Talbot.

Cecile Welly wool tweed suit accented with a black fur collar.  Puppy dog not included.

Lousieboulanger silk crepe de chine afternoon dress.

Weekend Eye Candy - Helena Rubinstein Wears Schiaparelli

Madame Helena Rubinstein owned this evening jacket from Elsa Schiaparelli's 1938 Circus collection.  The bolero jacket is completely covered in embroidery with elephants and acrobats set against swirls of pink.  As always, Rubinstein adds dramatic jewelry from her vast collection.  For more photos of Rubinstein and her singular style, see my recent blog post about her.

1953 Couture

I was doing some research about a couture garment recently and was struck by the popularity of stripes for the spring of 1953.  Mme. Grés seemed especially fond of striped silk for that season.  Which is your favorite?

Mme. Grés

Mme. Grés

Manquin

Schiaparelli

Mme. Grés

Maggy Rouff

Weekend Eye Candy - Elsa Schiaparelli, 1939

Leopard skin booties designed by Elsa Schiaparelli for her Fall 1939-40 season. The pair shown here were part of the designer's personal wardrobe and one of her favorite pairs of shoes. They were shown in the exhibit "Shocking! The Art and Fashion of Elsa Schiaparelli" at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 2003.

Photo from the book that accompanied the exhibit.

Yves St. Laurent's Nod to Elsa Schiaparelli

For his Fall/Winter "Collection Shakespeare" of 1980, Yves St. Laurent paid tribute to literature by using references to various poets in a surrealistic manner.

The jacket shown above is embroidered with a line from Jean Cocteau's 1920's poem "Battierie". Translated, the line reads, "Sun, I am black inside and rose outside, which is the metamorphosis." The pink satin jacket is lined in black velvet and a crystal and sequined sun forms the collar.

This black coat is embroidered with the title of a poem by Apollinaire, "Tout Terriblement".

As part of the same collection, St. Laurent showed this blue velvet jacket embroidered with a pair of eyes and the words, "Les Yeux d'Elsa". Translated as "The Eyes of Elsa", the words are the title of a poem by Louis Aragon. However, St. Laurent also cleverly pays tribute to Elsa Schiaparelli with this jacket by taking inspiration from her Zodiac Collection of 1938-39.

This Schiaparelli jacket in blue velvet is embroidered with the signs of the zodiac, planets, and constellations.

Metropolitan Museum Costume Collection

And this Schiaparelli jacket from the same collection, is embroidered with gold starbursts. Do you see the inspiration?

Weekend Eye Candy - Elsa Schiaparelli 1938

Tina Chow wears a 1938 Schiaparelli gown from her personal collection. The dress is entirely covered in blue bugle beads.

Weekend Eye Candy - Elsa Schiaparelli 1938

1938 - Madame Helena Rubinstein wears Elsa Schiaparelli's Circus collection evening jacket. The jacket is completely covered with embroidery of elephants and acrobats set against a swirled background.

What's Old is New Again

File this under "What's Old is New Again". You may think that this white blouse with the big bow by Yves St. Laurent for Fall 2009 is different and new. But the moment I saw the ad for this blouse, I knew I had seen it before. And this just goes to show you, today's designers are heavily influenced by what has come before.

Blouse by Yves St. Laurent - Fall 2009

Blouse by Elsa Schiaparelli - Spring 1950

Blouse by Callot Soeurs - Spring 1934

Weekend Eye Candy - 1937 Schiaparelli Metamorphosis Collection

For the summer of 1937, Elsa Schiaparelli designed her collection around the theme of metamorphosis and used butterflies as its symbol. Shown here, the ultimate Easter bonnet with matching jacket, both trimmed with plastic butterflies. The jacket was worked in sky blue wool, a perfect backdrop for the 4 three-dimensional butterflies that decorate the front opening. The smallest at the waist, worked as a real button, while the graduated non-working bound buttonholes above that provide balance and an additional decorative accent. As always, click the photo to see a larger view.

Weekend Eye Candy - 1937 Schiaparelli Evening Gown

From Elsa Schiaparelli's Fall/Winter 1937-38 line, this evening gown, in rose pink satin, hugs the figure and offers a new innovation - the built-in uplift bra. The dress is slit to the knee to expose the open-toed satin pump with ribbons that criss-cross up the leg.

Schiaparelli Evening Cape 1938

1938 - An evening cape by Elsa Schiaparelli. The Greek God Apollo rides in his chariot pulled by 5 horses in a magnificent celestial design. The embroidery was worked by the House of Lesage in gold sequins, beads, and thread on black velvet. Click on the image to see the details.

Weekend Eye Candy - Schiaparelli Evening Gown for Wallis Simpson

Before her marriage to the Duke of Windsor, Wallis Simpson purchased 18 garments from Elsa Schiaparelli's summer 1937 collection. One of them was this black evening ensemble consisiting of a full length dress and matching jacket. The jacket is trimmed in white leather applique.