Shocking Life

by Elsa Schiaparelli

“She knew everyone from Paris to Hollywood, collaborated with the Surrealists, and left her indelible mark on the world of fashion.” —Vogue

“She slapped Paris. She smacked it. She tortured it. She bewitched it. And it fell madly in love with her.” — Yves Saint Laurent

“A dress from Schiaparelli ranks like a modern canvas.” —Janet Flanner, The New Yorker

Elsa Schiaparelli (1890–1973) was one of the leading fashion designers of the 1920s, ’30s, and ’40s. Her fascinating autobiography, first published in 1954, charts her rise from a rat-infested apartment in Rome, to success in fashion, through the war years when she worked for the American Red Cross, to her eventual role as designer to the stars.

Genres: Fashion, Memoir, Nonfiction, Biography, Biography Memoir, Art, History

240 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2007

About the author

Elsa Schiaparelli (September 10, 1890 – November 13, 1973) was a Parisian fashion designer of the 1920s and 1930s. She was born in Rome, Italy, of Italian and Egyptian heritage. She was a great-niece of Giovanni Schiaparelli, who discovered the canals of Mars.

Reviews

[Katerina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Великолепно ебанутые воспоминания (анекдоты?) потрясающей женщины, выдумщицы, художницы и творца. Кто ждёт логичности от Эльзы, пусть глянет на ее платья. Кто любит ее платья, читайте скорее.

[Sabrina Chapadjiev · Rating 3 out of 5]

Listen. I love Schiaparelli. Like, a mad love. She cray, and I love her.

Was super excited to get into this autobiography, for possibly all the wrong reasons. I wanted to know how she constructed the clothes she did? How she built her fashion empire? How she dreamed up a new way of expressing femininity, whimsy and strength?

What I got instead was what I *should* have expected- a diaphanous breeze of glamour, half-painted stories, dream like parties and exquisite happenings that seemed so casual that it seemed her life had no aim but a decadent glory. Although the book jacket exclaims, 'Schiaparelli's fascinating autobiography charts her rise from resident of a rat-infested apartment to designer to the stars', it - like the entire book - ignores her aristocratic familial associations which, no doubt, leveraged her to the type of lifestyle that allowed her to fecklessly explore her own desires.

Writing from two personalities - the first person and the third person she calls, 'Schiap', who exists to her in the fifth dimension, this is not so much an autobiographic book as it is a fragrance. Much like her renowned perfumes, it captures a mood, a breezy mind-state, but despite it's word count - doesn't give the sense of fact a whirl. In fact, I encourage you to read her wikipedia page before reading this book. I wish I had before I read it.

That being said, if you're as enamored with her clothing and personality as much as I am, I encourage you to read this- to get a sense of how she thought of herself. But it is mostly fluff, and self-referential hoo-ha, she miraculously bumps into the right people all the time, and somehow launches an international brand.

That being said, I love she didn't talk business so much. I just wish she talked about her own art a bit more. But honestly, her whipped creamed existence, anchored by a true grit she rarely touches on (she vaguely admits she pretty much abandons her child), I love her spirit. Her shocking spirit, of a woman who confidently breezes in and out of a brilliant and non-apologetic existence at a time when it just wasn't done. Her stories often encapsulate the stories of others, which shows that despite her self-myth making, she was more interested in others than herself. She just couldn't help herself. And God love her for that.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

I knew next to nothing about Schiaparelli when I started this book, except that she made crazy surrealist clothing in the heyday of modern art in Paris.

Reading the book is like listening to a rambly old lady who never stops talking. She just launches into memories willy nilly and sometimes they are boring and don't really make sense, sometimes it's almost embarassingly culturally outdated but often it is gripping and wonderful and it makes you wish you could have been there. She is always witty and funny and occasionally spouts the kind of awesome wisdom that you just want to write in large letters and tape all over your house.

My only complaint is that being a hodge-podge memoir, I definitely got the feeling that she glossed over certain parts, left out whole years, and then made a point to include certain little anecdotes that made her out to be the victim of a grand plot (um yeah, I didn't quite follow that). It sort of made me want to read a regular biography of her to get some perspective on her life.

[Robin Temmink · Rating 4 out of 5]

Elsa Schiaparelli is a true social butterfly. She describes her travels as someone would describe a walk in a park. Her life as an avant-garde fashion designer mostly enchanting. I'd compare her book to Diana Vreeland's autobiography. At times she switched subjects so casually that I lost the plot, but for most of it I enjoyed the wild ride she took me on.

[lillacsillag · Rating 3 out of 5]

to have a face covered with flowers like a heavenly garden would indeed be a wonderful thing!

I wasn't as into this as I wanted to be, having bought a copy at the Musée des arts décoratifs after seeing the Shocking! exhibition but it was still an interesting insight into the brilliant mind of Elsa Schiaparelli. every reference to an iconic dress/fashion moment was kind of exciting but the narrative could get tiresome at points because oh my god does she like to name drop. it was fun when I recognised a person but the majority of people she frequented with aren't really relevant/known now so this is definitely a product of its time. Nevertheless I still thought this was an enjoyable read overall and it was nice to learn about Schiaparelli's life and influences because you can see how they lead to the fashion house as we know it today!

[nikki humble · Rating 4 out of 5]

schiaparelli’s choice to refer to herself as schiap from time to time was kind of hard to follow, but she really did in fact lead a shocking life.

[Rodrigo Ferrari · Rating 4 out of 5]

uma das melhores autobiografias que já li

[Katie Mcsweeney · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a toughie to review... I think I might have hated "Schiap" if I ever met her. She name-drops like there is no tomorrow. I wonder did she choose anecdotes just so she could name names... She mentions being firm friends, lifelong friends, dear friends, fast friends... with hundreds of people. Is it possible that these people felt the same??? A good test of this might be to see how many of these famous people mention her in their biographies? The woman practically invented networking!

Her relationship with her daughter was very difficult to understand. She talks about her love for Gogo with genuine feeling but she spent so much time away from her (from infancy). She is Italian by birth but chose to be French. She seems to hold onto nothing at all... not even her beloved workshop in Paris.

She bizarrely seems to blame experimental drugs for her loosing touch with the fashion Zeitgeist. She hardly mentioned her collaborations with Dali and the ONLY reference to Coco Channel (her biggest rival) is to mention that Channel (and a long list of other people) was at some party or other.

All that being said, she occasionally had the most beautiful turn of phrase and sometimes she really hit the nail on the head with her pithy observations (p.49 "The moment people stop copying you, it means that you are no longer any good and that you have ceased to be news."). She said herself that if she hadn't been a dressmaker she would have liked to have been a writer... now that could have led to something schpectacular!!

(Bad joke, I know)

[Roya · Rating 2 out of 5]

Schiaparelli was an amazing person, but her autobiography just kind of rambles on like a one-sided conversation. Her account of WW II was rather interesting and offered a different perspective on the Nazi occupation of France than I have ever read before.. I also enjoyed the account of her visit to Moscow. She alternates between writing in teh first and third person and note sin the beginning of the book that she views herself as if in a mirror. I tried to decipher when she switched personal pronouns from first to third person, but there was no consistency. Sometimes, it seemed that, in the third person, she was reflecting and in the first , she was telling an account...but that rule did not always hold. So yes...a one-sided conversation.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars, graded down because the general reader is not going to be, as I was, working on a Schiaparelli talk and awash in her life and brilliant designs. Much of her tale is fascinating; all must be taken with a grain of salt. It seemed to have been written in a spirit of defensive self-justification; was she trying to convince herself she was a halfway decent parent? It's interesting that needing to provide as a single mother propelled Schiaparelli into her design career, but she seemed to enjoy her work so much that she completely neglected her daughter. I wanted to hear much more about her collaboration with Dali and Cocteau, more about her creative process, less about her furniture... More and better illustrations would have been welcome.

[Raquel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Am about 3/4 of the way through this, and, man, is it a slog. Schiaparelli had, by all accounts, a very interesting life: a runaway bride, deserted wife, fantastic peacock, surrealist designer who collaborated with Salvador Dali and Jean Cocteau. But her writing is stilted. She doesn't know how to convey emotion and life--it's a lot of telling, not showing. I wish someone would write a biography on her and do her life justice. (Maybe Judith Thurman?)

UPDATE: I couldn't finish it. I got most of the way through, and then had to read a few other books in between, and just lost interest. Some interesting insights into fashion/design, but not well-written, not engrossing.

[Lii · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. After reading the Dior autobiography I thought this would be all about fashion as well, however, on the contrary fashion was not the major topic in the book. It is actually about the life of Elsa Schiaparelli. Living in different countries, making friends with influential people, living through the war and having to build her business again after the war.

This book is an interesting insight into how to build a business, what life was like during her time and her insight into all of it. She has a wonderful way of looking at life.

[Shannon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bleh. Such a slog. The hardest part is how unlikable Schiap was. The book was chock full of her self agrandizing narcissism, name-dropping, bragging and general conceit. I've personally had this experince when working with artists whose work I admired, only to be so disappointed when they turned out to be not very nice people. I read this book as a precursor to reading "Shocked", which was inspired by the author reading "Shocking Life". I'm not sure I will read "Shocked" now. We'll see.

[Marisa (Berman) Hollywood, Ph.D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this outlandish autobiography of Schiaparelli but I constantly wondered how much was fact and how much fiction - either way it was an entertaining read. One thing I found interesting was how she would jump between first and third person. It seems that she used third person when she was ashamed or embarrassed of the story she told. But I found it eerily reminiscent of Patrick Bateman in American Psycho...

[Charity · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who knew?! I picked up this book at The Met after the Prada/Schiaparelli exhibit. I was utterly surprised by how fun it was. I loved hearing about life in Europe, especially Paris, in the first half of the 20th century. Schiaparelli was such live wire, full of that mad cap self confidence of women of a certain era.

[Paul lowe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know why, but I had a strange interest about Elsa Schiaparelli ever since I was a kid.
My grandmother told me about the eccentric Elsa and her strange clothes.
Her bio is a great book about the most important fashion designer of the 30's.

[Duncan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting life but a seriously annoying and somewhat arrogant style jumping in and out of the third person. Probably not worth reading unless you are seriously interested in the minor movements of her life.

[Lynn]

love this lady and her work.

keep getting sidetracked with this book.

[Nicole A. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shiap is a strange bird, which made for a quick, interesting read.

[Pamela Mandell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Starts out strong but premise grows thin by end. Still wonderful details about Schiaparelli's life and conceit of book works well in beginning.

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved hearing her own voice even if she tends towards tedious.

[Joey]

I wanted to love this but couldn't get in to the wandering narrative where Shiaparelli flips between referring to herself as "Shiap" and speaking in the first person almost every other sentence.

[Barbara Schultz · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fascinating lady! The book is not lengthy but gives the reader an insight on what made Elsa tick.

[Krodì80 · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Il famoso detto ‘La vita è appesa a un filo’ è stato inventato dalle Parche mentre filavano o dal sarto di una signora capricciosa?”

“Va detto che Schiap non sapeva decisamente nulla di sartoria. La sua ignoranza in materia era somma. Il suo coraggio, pertanto, senza limiti e folle. Del resto, che cosa rischiava? Non possedeva nessun capitale di qualche rilievo. Non aveva padroni. Non doveva rendere conto a nessuno. Aveva solo la sua libertà”.

Una grande donna di intuito e intelligenza vividissimi, e sorprendente sense of humour, anche nelle situazioni più improbabili e disperate. Si sorride spesso scorrendo le pagine di questa gustosissima autobiografia, che Elsa Schiaparelli, “quell’artista italiana che fa vestiti”, come l’aveva definita la rivale Coco Chanel, ha pubblicato nel 1954, passando di continuo - e con graziosa nonchalance - dalla prima alla terza persona. Pagine vivacizzate da un brio e una densità esperienziale e umana impressionanti, un caleidoscopio di eventi e accadimenti che hanno costellato la turbolenta vita di Elsa, dalla nascita romana al suo rocambolesco approdo alla moda, passando per i vari spostamenti da un Paese all’altro, le innumerevoli trovate e scoperte stilistiche, la guerra, l’amicizia con i più grandi artisti e personaggi del suo tempo, Dalí, Cocteau, star hollywoodiane e blasonatissime clienti. Il bel mondo passava per la boutique di Elsa in place Vendôme a Parigi, e lei ce lo racconta con quell’ironia e fresco umorismo, che forse l’hanno aiutata a superare le situazioni più drammatiche della sua intensa e movimentata esistenza. Un umorismo che si fa spesso pungente e irresistibile. Così quando parla del suo nuovo appartamento parigino, caratterizzato, ça va sans dire, da uno stile anticonvenzionale: “Diedi il mio primo pranzo, un pranzo formale. Partecipò anche mademoiselle Chanel, la quale vedendo l’arredamento moderno e i piatti neri rabbrividì come se stesse attraversando un cimitero”. Donna libera, ma anche lucida pensatrice, Elsa sentenzia, forse rammentando il retrogusto spesso amaro della sua indipendenza: “Molti uomini ammirano le donne forti, ma non le amano. Alcune donne sono riuscite ad essere forti e tenere insieme, ma la maggior parte di quelle che hanno voluto camminare da sole, strada facendo, ha perso la felicità”. Concludono questa lettura gustosa e corroborante I dodici comandamenti per le donne: “Non dovrebbero mai fare acquisti insieme a un’altra donna, che a volte consciamente e spesso inconsciamente è portata a essere gelosa" (comandamento n. 8), dice la stilista, che prima suggeriva: “Dovrebbero scegliere i vestiti sole o in compagnia di un uomo”(n. 7). Io francamente non c’ho voglia, scusate tanto; chiedete a qualcun altro.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

By page eleven schiap as a child has planted seeds in her mouth, ears, and nose with the intention of growing flowers to make her beautiful, has tried to walk on a pool of quicklime as Jesus walked on water, and confessed to a priest that she had fornicated as she figured the more sins she repented for, the faster she would earn her entry to heaven.

At this early stage I figured if nothing else, this will be entertaining.

I sought to read Shocking Life, as I like many others, have come to be enthralled with the Schiaparelli house in recent years following its re-ascendence to the heights of the fashion world under Daniel Roseberry’s direction. What I was most excited to find out was his greatest inspirations were taken from the houses’ founder Elsa Schiaparelli. I knew her designs, a little about her relationship to the surrealist movement, and that she was a known eccentric who despised Coco Chanel. I was now hooked on the history of Schiaparelli.

However, this book was far from what I expected. It may have been ambitious of me to expect a feminist recounting of how Schiaparelli, an Italian woman, built a thriving Parisian fashion house, that survived the war, and reinvented fashion in phenomenal ways.

Instead it’s a wild retelling of her, now that I simply think twice about it, shocking life. It’s not the history lesson on the house of Schiaparelli that I expected, but it certainly provides an extended lens through which to perceive the context of Schiaparelli’s designs and collections, both old and new.



*I had left this quote in my notes app when I first started reading the book months ago. Now I cannot remember if it’s a quote from the book or a quote from elsewhere? Either way I suspect it’s connected to the story of childhood schiap repenting for fake sins. I continue to grow interested in how modern generations continue to displace traditional religion in their lives. My usual example is how we have returned to looking at horoscopes for guidance and glimmers of hope (shout-out to co-star) when our recent ancestors sought the advice of priests and bible verses (I’m Irish catholic, so this is an Irish generalisation). As someone with a psychology degree, this quote provokes me, and it should have a home, so here, with its flaws, it is going to live.

“Psychoanalysis was intended to take the place of confessional, and we call it science….psychoanalysis…is a peril because it is openly exploited for money”

[Sophie Louise Piczenik · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this on a very happy day at a WH Smith around UCL and obviously this is a V&A edition and the cover is so cute and I just finished it last night in Lonköping, Sweden in my best friend’s bedroom floor. So props to the covers and props to me tying the memory of buying this book with a yet another very happy day in London and finishing it in a very loving environment.

I knew almost close to nothing about Schiaparelli’s history, background and personal life before this book. To me, Schiaparelli equals surrealism x Fashion plus lots of collaboration with iconic artists, jewels and a lot of embroideries over Shocking Pink. That, and the fact that people paint her as Chanel’s biggest threat and rival.

The book is close to a personal diary than a biography. It was like listening to and old lady talk about bits and pieces of stuff, skipping the other bit, remember she skipped and fill in the gap with not much harmony. Some piece of information seems biased and doesn’t seem to be necessary but, hey if I were to write my own biography, it would have been something like this.

But then you learn so much how fashion influence politics and the other way around and how a fashion icon like Schiap, herself go through with fashion during the war and major world events, her interactions with politicians and neo-politics celebs and so much more.

Key Intakes:
- the twelve commandments for women
- Femininity in clothes in the 1940s-1960s
- The negative public outlook on fashion and clothes, the start of “of course you like fashion, you’re a girl” and Schiap dealt with it like a boss bitch
- The birth of RTW
- Principles of life in regarding choosing a career, sticking with it, analyzing it and comparing it to alternatives
- Educations and background is not everything but networking is
- Confidence and self respect is crucial
- Challenge your imaginations, always

I cannot say I thoroughly enjoy this book but I do have a positive out-take on it. I learnt from it. Maybe one day this will be a guideline for my autobiography one day.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know that it mostly comes down to the House of Chanel staying open and the House of Schiaparelli closing, but I’ve never understood why people worship Coco Chanel when the brilliant Elsa Schiaparelli was right there. Schiap (as she was/is commonly known) was a character, and an immensely talented designer (amongst other things). Interest in her and her designs is slowly growing, but it should be growing faster. The woman who worked with Jean Cocteau and Salvador Dalí, who lost her husband to modern dancer Isadora Duncan, who lived through both World Wars? A fascinating and complex life.
One thing to note with this book is that Schiaparelli uses first person and third person narration interchangeably, switching even between consecutive sentences. Once you get used to this, it reads like she is sitting across from you, telling you her story. Like any autobiography, the telling is as important as the information you are being told- we learn what is important to Schiap, and what stood out to her. The only weak point is timing- you can pinpoint certain memories if the war or another world event is mentioned, but a lot of it flows with no indication of time.
Schiap does name drop, but it doesn’t feel as awkward or aggressive as Poiret’s autobiography. She brushes past people like Dalí as if they are a random person here or there, which I think is done on purpose- I don’t know that she was that impressed by status. I do wish that she had written more on her Surrealist collaborations, though. Given that they are a huge part of her legacy, it does feel like something is missing.

[Sharon Colarusso Roarty · Rating 2 out of 5]

Elsa Schiaparelli's life is really not that shocking but it is the name of her perfume. Perhaps the really 'shocking' part of her self titled autobiography is actually the inspired bold colors and prints she created (she hated that word), in her clothing designs. There were shoulder pads, trouser skirts, animal prints, text on scarves, skeletons on black and, of course, the use of her signature 'shocking' pink. Born in Rome Elsa considered herself rather ugly and unattractive. Perhaps this is what inspired her striking and vivid designs which would eventually attract the attention of Katharine Hepburn, Mae West, Marlene Dietrich and, even Amelia Earhart. Elsa started by re-imagining a basic sweater by placing a bow at the neck which caused a sensation. Soon, Elsa, from her adopted France, was working frantically to fulfill the numerous sweater orders she received propelling her to go from a rat invested apartment to designer to the stars. In between, there is an unhappy marriage, her polio stricken daughter (later mother to Marisa and Berry Berenson), and her homeland being taken over by fascist leader Mussolini. It is an interesting story but Elsa tells it unevenly and never really grabs your attention. I feel like the reader would much prefer a better written, more complete biography on such an interesting woman and life.

[Noëmie N · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shocking : nom de couleur, parfum, autobiographie.

Film à voir : Les hommes préfèrent les blondes.

Eût-elle était un homme, elle aurait pu dire qu'elle avait épousé la France par amour. En tant que femme, elle ne peut que revendiquer d'avoir été adoptée.

Régime au caviar en Russie : perte de poids et en bonne santé.

Mode des faux seins : certains se gonflent avec une paille.

Isotta Fraschini : voiture de luxe, n'existait plus mais va possiblement faire un comeback en 2023. Italienne.

Vêtements qui sont conçus pour être portes rapidement en cas de raid aérien...

Cartier et magasin de déco Jansen sauveront bcp d'œuvres d'art et de bijoux durant l'occasion allemande.

A l'inverse des Américains et des Anglais, les Français ne se vantent pas de leur nationalité.

"Il est difficile pour qui a été habitué à la camaraderie et au bonheur de demeurer seul. Aussi ceux qui, dans le mariage, ont connu ces deux privilèges se remarient-ils souvent très vite."

Parfum Le Roy Soleil.

Villa Favorita où Marie-Caroline pleura le sort de sa sœur Marie-Antoinette.

Uniforme garde suisse du Vatican réalisé par Michel-Ange.

Eva Peron ancienne première ministre d'Argentine.

Packard : ancienne marque de voiture de luxe américaine.

Huis Clos : pièce préférée Schiap.

[Anastasya Borovik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Throughout the book, Schiaparelli's personality shines through. She is a woman who is not afraid to speak her mind, and her wit and intelligence are evident in her writing. Her anecdotes about her encounters with other famous figures of the time, such as Coco Chanel and Wallis Simpson, add an extra layer of intrigue to the book.
One of the most poignant aspects of the book is the way Schiaparelli reflects on her personal life. She is candid about her struggles with love and motherhood, and her frankness is both refreshing and moving. It is clear that her personal life had a profound impact on her work, and this adds a deeper dimension to the book.
Overall, "A Shocking Life" is a fascinating and engaging read, full of wit, insight and inspiration. It is a must-read for anyone interested in fashion, art or the lives of remarkable women. Schiaparelli's legacy lives on, and this book is a fitting tribute to her remarkable life and career.