Today, only noble experts in the fashion world know who Elsa Schiaparelli was. However, in the old days, the name of this amazing woman did not leave the lips of journalists. Each collection of fashionable clothes created by her was admired by fashion fans and the envy of competitors.
From the biography of Elsa Schiaparelli
The future star of world fashion was born on September 10, 1890. Her father ran the Royal Library of Italy. From a young age, the girl was surrounded by the care of loved ones. The girl’s favorite pastime was browsing books in her father’s library. Elsa was most interested in illustrations. Books were a great passion and head of the family. He was an avid numismatist, in his collection of coins there were completely unique specimens.
Elsa's mother was born in Malta, where her father served as consul. Too many relatives of the girl were representatives of the elite of that time. Elsa herself was not distinguished by external data - she could not be called a beauty. The parents of their daughter did not allow any liberties. Father rejected all potential suitors on the move. Elsa concentrated her studies.
Elsa escaped from the shackles of parental care only in 1914, when she went to London at the invitation of a friend. Here the girl got a job as a governess. On the way to Britain, Elsa stopped in Paris, where she was invited to a ball. The girl built an outfit in haste. She attached a piece of bright silk to a dark blue crepe de chine dress. Hastily made myself a hat. All elements of the outfit were pinned. The local audience favorably perceived the girl in such an extravagant outfit. However, during the next dance, a fabulously beautiful outfit scattered into separate parts, bringing the audience into a state of shock. So began a career as a fashion designer for Elsa.
The life path of Elsa Schiaparelli
In London, Elsa took up her duties of raising children. There was not much trouble, there was time for personal life. Interested in occultism, Elsa signed up for lectures on Theosophy given by Count William de Wendt de Curlor. Once Schiaparelli started a dispute with a lecturer, which dragged on for several hours. By morning, young people were engaged. Daughter informed her strict parents of her choice only after the marriage ceremony.
However, family life from the first days did not ask. The husband did not have a stable income. The couple moved from London, where they rented a house, to Nice - the parents of her husband Elsa lived there. Once Schiaparelli went to Monte Carlo to try to improve her financial situation at a table of green cloth. She returned home penniless in her pocket, giving herself the vow to never visit a casino.
Trying to change their fate, the couple went to New York. But William began to indulge in entertainment, starting numerous novels and forgetting about the purpose of his trip to America. Debts grew, there was nothing to pay for family accommodation at the hotel. The spouse was even indifferent to the news that Elsa was expecting a baby. When Schiaparelli and her daughter left the maternity hospital, she had to look for a new shelter for herself - they were evicted from the hotel for debts.
After some time, William, being in a fair amount of drinking, died under the wheels of a car. Mom and daughter huddled in the cheapest hotel. Elsa was interrupted by casual earnings. On top of that, the girl showed a serious illness. In search of funds for the treatment of her daughter, Elsa turned to the wife of the French artist Picabia. She invited her to sell collection clothes.
Soon after, Elsa returned to Europe on the advice of doctors. She arranged a sick daughter in a boarding house for children with musculoskeletal disorders, located in Lausanne.
