1938 ElsaSchiaparelli CouturePagan DeposeFrance FeatherCrystalGold Bird Brooch
About the Item
- Creator:
- Metal:Gold,Yellow Gold,Gilt Metal
- Stone:Crystal
- Stone Cut:Mixed Cut
- Weight:4 g
- Dimensions:Width: 1 in (25.4 mm)Length: 2.5 in (63.5 mm)
- Place of Origin:France
- Period:1930-1939
- Date of Manufacture:1938
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:Chicago, IL
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU3244222404982
Elsa Schiaparelli
From her signature color Shocking Pink to her collaborations with Surrealist artists, the boldly original Elsa Schiaparelli transformed fashion with her haute couture house from the late 1920s to the early ’50s. Experimenting with elements like trompe l’oeil images and colorful visible zippers, the Italian designer instilled a provocative avant-garde artistry in her clothing and accessories, including those created with Salvador Dalí, such as the lobster dress and a hat shaped like a shoe.
Born in Rome, Schiaparelli was a rebellious child who grew up among the city’s intellectual elite. She had a voracious appetite for reading and became interested in ancient cultures, astronomy and world religions. Schiaparelli studied philosophy at the University of Rome, and after publishing a collection of poems on love and sensuality that so mortified her conservative parents that they tried, unsuccessfully, to confine her to a Swiss convent, she left for London.
A quick marriage to Count Wilhelm de Wendt de Kerlor brought her to New York, but it would be in Paris following her divorce that Schiaparelli embraced her artistic passions. She moved to the French capital city in 1922 with her young daughter and happened to meet master couturier Paul Poiret, who loaned the stylish Schiaparelli his clothes, sparking her own fashion interests.
Schiaparelli opened her modest atelier in Paris and debuted her first collection of knitwear in 1927, and later that year, she designed a black-and-white pullover hand-knit wool sweater featuring a trompe l’oeil bowknot that captured the attention of the fashion world. Vogue called it “an artistic masterpiece.” The success led to her moving her house to 21 Place Vendôme in 1935 where thousands of garments were produced each year.
Schiaparelli’s knitwear collections were later accompanied by revolutionary swimsuits and other clothing and accessories. Her inventive designs would include culottes — a radical statement in the 1930s when women still could cause a scandal by wearing pants — as well as printed fabric, such as the 1938 Tears dress with a print designed by Dalí making it appear as if the evening gown had been savagely ripped.
Schiaparelli was among the first designers to use materials like rayon and Lurex as well as explore wrap dresses and transparent raincoats. She also introduced unisex fragrances and brought her artistic partnerships into jewelry, such as bronze brooches made with Alberto Giacometti and fur-lined bracelets with Méret Oppenheim. As she wrote in her 1954 autobiography Shocking Life, women should “dare to be different.”
Despite her acclaim, her shop closed in 1954 after a tumultuous time during World War II. By then, fashion had moved on with Christian Dior's New Look, and the closure of Schiaparelli's business coincided with a comeback mounted by Coco Chanel, her archrival in the early days.
In 2006, Italian businessman Diego Della Valle acquired the brand and its archives, and the Maison Schiaparelli was reopened in 2012, back at 21 Place Vendôme where Schiaparelli's fearless and enduring work began.
Find vintage Elsa Schiaparelli hats, evening dresses and other clothing and accessories on 1stDibs.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: North Adams, MA
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 1 day of delivery.
- Antique ArtNouveau Austria Scheid RareMark Pave BlueZircon Silver Snakes BroochBy Georg Adam ScheidLocated in Chicago, ILDuring the Art-Nouveau period while German-born Vienna-based silversmith, niello master, and entrepreneur Georg Adam Scheid (1837-1921) was prospering from a related refinery busines...Category
Early 20th Century Austrian Art Nouveau Brooches
MaterialsAquamarine, Diamond, Sapphire, Zircon, Silver, Sterling Silver
- MiriamHaskell WWII FrankHess PurpleGlassFlowersGoldLeaves WiredPlasticBackBroochBy Frank Hess for Miriam HaskellLocated in Chicago, ILBeginning in 1939, Miriam Haskell asked her first designer Frank Hess to sparingly use metal in the costume-jewelry collections during WWII while war materials were needed. So their ...Category
Vintage 1940s American Baroque Revival Brooches
MaterialsMixed Metal
- Artist BertoiaStyle Hammered SterlingSilver SquiggleSpiral UndulatingWire BroochLocated in Chicago, ILThis modern mid-century abstract three-dimensional unsigned brooch is a single hand-hammered sterling-silver wire that was shaped by an artist into an undulating squiggle that ends i...Category
Early 20th Century American Modern Brooches
MaterialsSterling Silver
- ArtNouveau Antique ArtistSigned Peacocks Set HandWroughtMetals Earrings & BroochBy Louis Comfort TiffanyLocated in Chicago, ILThis antique Art-Nouveau period American-signed metalsmithed set features intricately etched, chased, chiseled and pierced curvaceous peacocks in unusual copper-gilt silver. "Sterlin...Category
Early 20th Century American Art Nouveau Brooches
MaterialsSterling Silver, Copper
- Couture 1936-49 Schiaparelli-Dali-Style Set FauxSapphire&Pearl Earrings & BroochLocated in Chicago, ILThis surrealistic handcrafted faux-sapphire-topped-pearl cluster brooch and clip-earrings set dates to around WWII, when fashion designer Elsa Sch...Category
Vintage 1940s American Modern Brooches
MaterialsCrystal, Pearl, Sapphire, Mixed Metal
- Antique FabergeStyle 3AquamarineCabochons 4GreyDiamonds BezelSet Platinum BroochLocated in Chicago, ILThis antique Victorian platinum filigree bar-brooch or tie-pin from the Edwardian period in a Faberge style features bezel settings with three square-cut 10mm sugarloaf aquamarine ca...Category
Antique Early 1900s European Edwardian Brooches
MaterialsDiamond, Aquamarine, Black Diamond, Platinum
- One of a Kind 18 Karat White Gold Diamonds Blue Pink Sapphires Butterfly BroochBy FRALEONILocated in Rome, IT18 kt. white gold brooch with 4.84 carat of round-cut diamonds ( H-I color - VVS1-VVS2 ) and 39.26 carat of double rose-cut blue and pink sapphires. This one of a kind brooch...Category
2010s Italian Modern Brooches
MaterialsDiamond, Blue Sapphire, Pink Sapphire, 18k Gold, White Gold
- 18 Karat Yellow Gold Multicolored Sapphire Diamonds Flower BroochBy FRALEONILocated in Rome, IT18 kt. yellow gold brooch with 8.91 ct. of round cut diamonds and 33.15 ct. of round and oval cut multicolored sapphires. This classic brooch is hand-made in Italy. The brooch can al...Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Modern Brooches
MaterialsDiamond, Sapphire, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold
- 1970 Lunati 18 kt Gold Bird Of Paradise BroochLocated in Palermo, ITGold brooch with Blue enamel and 0.60-carat diamonds, Italian manufacture Lunati. Tear-off security closure Approximate size: Very large, 12 cm A stunning piece of wearable art. The ...Category
Vintage 1970s European Retro Brooches
MaterialsWhite Diamond, 18k Gold
- Vintage Ruby and Diamond Flower BroochLocated in Armadale, VictoriaIntroducing a timeless piece of elegance: the 18ct White Gold Large Ruby And Diamond Flower Brooch. Crafted circa 1960, this exquisite accessory exudes vintage charm and sophisticati...Category
Mid-20th Century Brooches
MaterialsDiamond, Ruby
- Victorian Burma Sapphire 4.60ct Certificated Untreated, Pearl, Ruby Bee/Insect/BLocated in London, GBAn exceptional, exquisite and well preserved Victorian brooch in the form of a bee with ruby eyes, sapphire and diamond wings, natural pearl and cabochon natural untreated Burma Sapp...Category
Antique 1850s British Victorian Brooches
MaterialsDiamond, White Diamond, Natural Pearl, Ruby, Blue Sapphire, Pearl, Sapph...
- Diamond Needle, Platinum Art Deco, circa 1920Located in Berlin, DEDiamond needle, Platinum Art Deco around 1920 Classic piece of jewellery or fashion accessory of the Twenties, one liked to see what one could afford. This, however, in a simple ele...Category
Vintage 1920s German Art Deco Brooches
MaterialsDiamond, 14k Gold, Platinum
Recently Viewed
View AllRead More
You Saw It at the Met Ball. Here’s What Camp Fashion Is Really About
This year's Costume Institute exhibition is all about embracing the eccentric.
The Met’s Latest Blockbuster Tells a Powerful Story through 230 Jewels
A captivating show at the Manhattan museum explores how jewelry has ornamented the body through the millennia — and redefines it as high art.