Schiaparelli’s Shocking Pink Shines Once More on the Place Vendôme

At her hand, a good number of artists saw their creations come to life in 3D, just like Dali and the “lobster dress”. She left her mark in her time by provoking, by daring, by opting for humorous avant-gardism. Her name is hands down tied do her favorite color: shocking pink, they name she gave to her perfume who’s female bust-shaped bottle got tongues wagging. The Phoebus cape, from the 1938 “Astrologie” collection, perfectly incarnates the idea of the extravagant, active, and elegant woman that Schiaparelli depicts. Tinted with this intense shade of pink, Lesage embroideries form a golden sun, so that women light up sidewalks and imaginations alike.

Launched in 1928, the brand closed its doors in 1954 after the designer’s exile to the U.S. For nineteen years, her innovation was absent from the runways, until the brand’s revival by Diego Della Valle, who for eight years tried to bring the soul of this “dress designer” back to life. Marco Zannini, the new creative director, is today offering us the pleasure of rediscovering a piece of the revolution of the 30s, this nonconformism that we are indeed lacking in this day and age. The rules of the brand are revisited without literally following the archives to a T. Shocking pink is back on the catwalk with a carpet in the explosive color, as well as sneaking into the printed details of a midnight blue silk dress. Illustrious hats crown the heads of the intergenerational models, the quality affirmed by the work of the specialized design houses that the brand called on: embroiderer Lesage, featherer Lemarié, Fabre for the gloves, and Stephen Jones for the hats. It’s through the details in the staging and the care taken to awaken the creativity and imagination of each and every one that a new page in Schiaparelli symbolism is finally being written, still remaining in touch with their history thanks to an auction of her fashion collections and art at Christie’s on January 23rd by her granddaughter Marisa Berenson, determined to share the colorful vision of this fashion artist with the world.