Reeder, Jan. “Elsa Schiaparelli (1890–1973).” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/elsa/hd_elsa.htm (May 2011) Further Reading I teach environmental science, and the nature-themed clipart is perfect for my lessons. The realistic plant and animal illustrations enhance my presentations. Adding a section with ecology-themed clipart for environmental concepts would be wonderful." Further emphasizing the Surrealistic theatricality of the clothes from this period, Schiaparelli organized some of them into thematic collections—”Stop Look and Listen” in 1935, “Music” and “Paris 1937” in 1937, “Zodiac,”“Pagan,” and “Circus” in 1938, and “Commedia dell’Arte” in 1939.

Although the return of shoulder pads and their flattery to the waistline in the 1980s offered some brief respite from the tyranny of the ideal body as ideal silhouette, perfection remains embodied by the form of the tall, slender, adolescent girl. The real shift that took place in the 1980s was toward more muscle tone on that adolescent body. Although historicist revivals by fashion designers in the 1990s have suggested multiple variations of silhouette, the revealed body remains the dominant form. All designs (SVGs) in our store include a variety of options, so whether you’re paper crafting, or working with vinyl & HTV, you’ll have what you need! In 1954, the House of Schiaparelli declared bankruptcy and its founder retired, spending most of her time in Tunisia, where she had built a home. She died in Paris at the age of eighty-three. As a parent of a budding artist, I find the clipart here inspiring for my child's drawings. The creativity in the designs is unmatched. It would be great if there were tutorials or art challenges for kids to enhance their skills using the clipart."

These rare works join others in The Costume Institute, which include a version of the high-heeled shoe hat Schiaparelli created in collaboration with Salvador Dalí for her winter 1937–38 collection ( 1974.139), and a patchwork harlequin coat from her spring 1939 “ Commedia dell’Arte” collection, which may have influenced Man Ray’s painting, Le Beau Temps, created in 1939 after the coat would have been designed ( 2002.479.4). Both may have been inspired by a July 1937 costume ball given in Paris by Maurice de Rothschild with the theme “Italian Comedy.”

In the 1930s, the silhouette regained some structure. Evening dresses made of bias-cut fabrics clung to the curves of the female body while women’s suits for day wear were carefully tailored to nip in at the waist and curve closely over a slim bottom. The 1930s also marked the introduction of the padded shoulder, first used by couturière Elsa Schiaparelli. While the strong shoulders of the 1930s flattered the waistline by comparison, the overall demand that suits be form fitting allowed for the reintroduction of shaping undergarments. Although similar to corsets, the design of 1930s girdles emphasized their modernity, touting the smoothing elastic fabric and the invisible zipper closure.The strong-shouldered silhouette persisted until 1947, when couturier Christian Dior presented what American fashion editor Carmel Snow dubbed the “New Look.” Defined by sloped shoulders, an articulated bust, a constricted waist, and padded hips, Richard Martin and Harold Koda noted in Bare Witness that “the New Look’s strong silhouette [was] made possible by the reintroduction of the carapace-like infrastructure of nineteenth-century dressmaking.” To achieve this silhouette, which carried through much of the 1950s, undergarments such as the narrow waist cincher were created while the brassiere was given increasingly reinforced structure to the point that it could direct each breast upward and outward from the torso. The Italian-born French couturière Elsa Schiaparelli is best known for the iconoclastic bravado and unrestrained, at times brazen, originality of her work. While her contemporaries Gabrielle Chanel and Madeleine Vionnet set the period’s standards of taste and beauty in fashion design, Schiaparelli flouted convention in the pursuit of a more idiosyncratic style. As much an artist as a dress designer, she commandeered the talents of a host of prominent artisans and artists, most notably those associated with the Surrealist movement. Distilling their disquieting dream-based imagery and provocative concepts through her own creative process, she incorporated themes inspired by contemporaneous events, erotic fantasy, traditional and avant-garde art, and her own psyche into her designs. A repertoire of inventive devices—experimental fabrics with pronounced textures, bold prints with unorthodox imagery and colors, opulent embroideries, outsized and exposed zippers, and distinctive buttons and ornaments ranging from the whimsical to the bizarre—was her medium of creative expression.