SCHIAPARELLI, ELSA

born Sept. 10, 1890, Rome, Italy died Nov. 13, 1973, Paris, Fr. Italian-born French dress designer whose use of accessories and dramatic colours enlivened the fashion scene for 40 years. She introduced the padded shoulder in 1932; designed fur bed jackets and rhinestone-trimmed lingerie in the 1940s; and in the 1950s popularized shortie coats in vivid reds, golds, and chartreuses. Elsa Schiaparelli worked in the United States as a film-script writer and translator for an importing firm. In the late 1920s she settled in Paris, dabbled in free-lance writing and sculpture, and soon opened her first small couturier shop. By 1935 she was a leader in haute couture and was quickly expanding into jewelry, perfume, cosmetics, lingerie, and swimsuits. Her designs were noted for combining eccentricity with simplicity and a trim neatness with flamboyant colour. In 1947 Schiaparelli's new colour, shocking pink, was the sensation of the fashion world. Her ice blue achieved almost the same popularity, as did her furs dyed in unusual shades of colour. She opened a branch in New York City in 1949 to mass-produce suits, dresses, and coats of her design. Along with designer Christian Dior, she was instrumental in the worldwide commercialization of Parisian fashion.