The life of iconic Elsa Schiaparelli masked by Haute Couture extravagance
Inspired by the heavenly Elsa Schiaparelli, rival of the famous Coco Chanel
The luxurious collection was created by French designer Bertrand Guyon, who has held the position of creative director for the Italian brand Schiaparelli since 2015. He was inspired by one of the greatest fashion icons of the interwar period and rival to the famous Coco Chanel, designer Elsa Schiaparelli.
Móda proti proudu
Názor PROTI PROUDU: Martina Šmalclová
Immersed in photographs, he gathered fragments of her personality
Elsa’s mother belonged to the Italian aristocracy ad her father was a leading scientist. Elsa, however, found a liking in the world of fashion and opened a salon in Paris in 1935. She became famous for her surrealist creations and brought wit, innovation, invention and playfulness to haute couture, which feature in the collections of this luxury brand to this day. In creating the AW 2018 collection, Bertrand Guyon immersed himself in Elsa’s personal photographs to gather fragments of her personality.
A collection like fauna
He studied not only her character, but also her personality, her world and intimacy both through portraits and her wardrobe. He attempted to perfectly reveal her day and evening garments and the accessories she wore with the luxurious outfits. In addition to this reference points, there were other aspects which enriched the spirit of this luxurious collection – for instance a love for animals, which was very apparent. How does the designer himself see the AW 2018 collection?
“It is a collection full of fauna, light, games. The collection is strong and poetic at the same time.”
One can only agree. The extravagant AW 2018 collection also includes several delightful gowns, which are a joy to behold!
The runway features Adriana Lima, Winnie Harlow and Jamie King
Winnie Harlow appeared on the runway in a silk cobalt blue maxi dress, soon after followed by Vitoria’s Secret angel Adriana Lima in a petroleum coloured gown. Towards the end of the show, popular actress Jamie King – famous with the public primarily for her role of twins Goldie and Wendy in the film Sin City – also appeared.
Názor PROTI PROUDU: Ornella Koktová
Bright haute couture by Bertrand Guyon for Schiaparelli - heavenly!
I will skip over the leopard-skin nonsense and go directly to a summary of the best. The absolute winner is the pale blue gown with elements of nudity and incredibly beautiful embroidery. It almost looks as though a bunch of butterflies had just settled onto the model’s body: simply heavenly! The fairies themselves must have embroidered this dress! It’s like a gown for Cinderella’s magical ball. Only the glass slipper is missing!
Another example of perfection for me is undeniably the long white fitted gown with long feathers around the shoulders (it reminds me a bit of the Erdem SS 2015 collection… in a good way). The strappy champagne heels and wide bracelet give the whole look fantastic flair. Naturally, I consider the feather dog mask a part of the whole big show. So all is well that ends well!
