This brooch is by one of the legendary designers of the 20th century and I have wanted to add to my collection for a long time. Elsa Schiaparelli was born in Rome in 1890, her mother was an aristocrat, her father was a scholar, her brother was an astronomer and one of her cousins was a notable Egyptologist who discovered the tomb of Nefertari. This eclectic and diverse background would go on to serve Elsa well in her future career as a designer. She studied philosophy at Rome university where she published a book of sensual poetry entitled Arethusa; this so shocked her family she was sent to a convent in Switzerland. She went on hunger strike and left at 22 taking a job as a nanny in London. In London she met her husband – Count William de Wendt de Kerlor, a con man who claimed to be a psychic. In 1915 de Kerlor was deported for practising fortune-telling which was illegal in England at the time. The couple moved around Europe before moving to America in 1916. The marriage did not last and Elsa moved to Paris in 1922 with her daughter, divorcing de Kerlor in 1924, he was subsequently murdered in Mexico in 1928 under mysterious circumstances.
With the guidance and help of Paul Poiret (1879 – 1944) a French fashion designer, a master couturier, Elsa Schiaparelli established her own fashion business. Her first collection was jumpers with surrealist trompe l’oeil images.
In 1937 Elsa Schiaparelli collaborated with the surrealist artist Salvador Dali to design two of her most famous designs. The ‘Shoe Hat’ and the ‘Lobster Dress’ famously worn by Wallis Simpson.
When WWII broke out Elsa moved back to New York but returned to Paris in 1945, launching her ready to wear range in 1949. She sold her Paris business in 1954 to the dismay of her assistants Hubert de Givenchy and Pierre Cardin and returned to New York. In New York Elsa Schiaparelli focused on designing and producing costume jewellery with an emphasis on floral and faunal designs. The jewellery business ceased production in the late 1950s and Elsa died in 1973. Over the years Schiaparelli had many famous clients including Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Wallis Simpson, Daisy Fellows and Mae West.