"Women dress the same all over the world: to annoy other women."
(Elsa Schiaparelli)
On a November evening in 1927, an elegant lady with short, raven-black hair that shone like liquid tar entered the dining room of a fashionable Parisian restaurant, where a small party was already waiting for her. The lady was Elsa Schiaparelli and it was the eve of the presentation of her second collection. When she arrived at the table of her company, among them Main Bocher, editor-in-chief of French Vogue, fashion designer Douglas Pollard and the most important opinion leaders of the scene at the time, the ladies present were amazed at Elsa's unusual jumper: it was black with white cuffs, collar and bow in the middle. But these decorative elements were only an optical illusion, a trompe l'oeil effect. The collar, bow and cuffs had not been sewn on, but were part of the knitting pattern. Also, the structure of the jumper was different from most, machine-made models, coarser and firmer. The white yarn shone through the black, which had a grainy, two-dimensional effect, similar to the frottage technique from fine art. Elsa's jumper was therefore an absolute fashion novelty and it goes without saying that all the ladies at the table immediately wanted one too. The performance was a success.
Douglas Pollard did a drawing of the jumper that appeared in the December issue of French, English and American Vogue. It shows an elegant lady with a bob, wearing the jumper with a matching black skirt and fine pearl jewellery for her neck and hands. The background: graphic geometric elements à la Art Deco. The caption read: "Triumph of colour mixing.... an artistic masterpiece".
Only a little later, Elsa Schiaparelli could hardly save herself from orders from prominent ranks. Peggy Guggenheim ordered forty pieces at once, made on a piecework basis by Armenian seamstresses, from whom the unique knitting technique of the double-layer stitch originated. Anita Loos (author of the script "Men Prefer Blondes") and Nancy Cunard (heiress to the famous steamship empire Cunard Line) were also soon proud owners of a Schiaparelli jumper and so were many other ladies of high society. Many other fashion designers tried to copy the jumper in the course of this, but these copies could easily be distinguished from the originals, as the special technique of the Armenian seamstresses could not be imitated. Thus, Schiaparelli's jumper remained unique and a true milestone in the fashion history of the 1920s, bearing so much of the spirit of the time: The trompe l'oeil effect from Surrealist art (Schiaparelli later collaborated frequently with Salvador Dalí), the graphic geometric patterns of other jumper models reminiscent of Cubism and the Bauhaus style, and the aforementioned frottage effect (used by artists such as Max Ernst). Schiaparelli was also one of the first to make sportswear socially acceptable. The newly emerging need for clothes that offered freedom of movement and comfort, but were still elegant, was met by the designer with her boutique in Rue de la Paix, which she simply called "Schiaparelli - Pour le sport". A brand was born.
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