Théâtre d’Elsa, the first Schiaparelli Haute Couture collection orchestrated by its new design director Bertrand Guyon, debuted at 21 Place Vendôme in Paris on July 6, 2015. Schiaparelli ambassador Farida Khelfa welcomed fashion royalty Daphné Guinness, Inès de la Fressange, actresses Meg Ryan, Alice Eve and Carice van Houten, along with famous graphic designer and photographer Jean-Paul Goude, and creative directors for Valentino Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli, for the presentation.
Guyon’s collection was inspired by the minimalism and elegance of Elsa Schiaparelli, the femininity and rigor of American photographer, fashion model and war correspondent Lee Miller, and the exuberance of Australian performance artist Leigh Bowery, all from the 1930s. Guyon has worked at Givenchy, Lacroix and Valentino.
Red Carpet Bay Area favorites from the collection:
Elsa Schiaparelli, known as Schiap (pronounced “Skip”) to her friends and clients, was a famous rival of Coco Chanel in the 1930s. Critics continue to see Chanel as lucratively conservative, and Schiaparelli as genius. Schiaparelli’s clientele included Daisy Fellowes, Katherine Hepburn and Marlene Dietrich. She was one of the first fashion designers to create the wrap dress, built-in bras and culottes, to use zippers, synthetic fabrics, ornamental buttons and wrapped turbans. She made shocking pink a famous color and shocked with jewelry of bugs and hats of shoes, among other things. Schiaparelli started her fashion business in the late 1920s and closed in 1954. Italian businessman Diego Della Valle of Tod’s Group acquired the archive and rights to Maison Schiaparelli in 2006.
