It is always interesting to dive back into the lives of those who marked their time in order to understand why their name once stood out. Nicely told in the documentary Shocking Schiaparelli, by Elise Chassaing, the fate of the famous Italian designer is no exception. All the planets of Elsa S., who loved the constellations so much, seem aligned this year: reissue of her Memoirs at Denoël, exhibition at the Museum of Decorative Arts and this unpublished documentary which required more than three years of work. All of this coincides with the real renaissance of the brand, under the artistic direction of the American Daniel Roseberry., arrived in 2019.
Even stronger, the creations of Elsa Schiaparelli resonate surprisingly with the spring-summer 2023 collections presented in Milan and Paris in September. The “ragged skin” dress finds particular resonance in Prada’s trompe-l’oeil “torn paper” print work; the flower-headed woman is perpetuated in the sculptural headdresses of Comme des Garçons; a surreal filiation permeates the work of Jonathan Anderson who, for Loewe, covered a bare breast with a beautiful anthurium. coincidences “shocking” which should, we hope, amuse Schiap.
Shocking Schiaparelli, the story of a fashion visionary (52 min), by Elise Chassaing, October 28, at 11:15 p.m., on France 5. Available in replay until January 22, 2023.