The story of how Coco Chanel set her competitor on fire (7 photos)

The name of the legendary Chanel is known to all. But it's Elsa Skiparelli is called in narrower circles the first "artist who created fashion."





In difficult years, between the two world wars, Schiparelli created real art - expensive, colorful and absolutely not for everyone fashion model day. Fashionable girls squealed with delight, but Coco Chanel, always so restrained and laconic, only clenched her fists hearing about Elsa's success.



They were originally on opposite sides of the barricades. Coco was from the poorest a family that achieved everything due to its intelligence, prudence and entrepreneurial spirit.

Elsa was a capricious and spoiled aristocratic lady. Chanel treated fashion not as an art, but as a craft - clothes should complete the woman. Schiaparelli any thing, even an ordinary sweater, turned into an avant-garde work of art.



Koko in her youth was taught to sew by nuns in an orphanage, and this strictness and conciseness is reflected in all her collections. But Schiaparelli was an artist and loved to collaborate - Salvador Dali painted her dresses with red lobsters, created brooches in the form of pieces human body, Jean Cocteau came up with motives for embroidery. IN a counterbalance to Coco's restraint, Elsa came up with "shocking pink".

Chanel said of her: "This Italian artist, who for some reason, she is engaged in clothes. ”And she never called her by name. Obviously, the conflict was ripe and open confrontation was inevitable.



It all happened at one of the costume balls before the outbreak of World War II.

Chanel came in one of her typical dresses (with restraint and taste), and Schiaparelli - in the costume of a living tree in a surreal manner. And the completely unthinkable happened: Chanel invited to dance his rival, and so, oddly enough, agrees. But suddenly, in while dancing, Elsa fell on a candelabra with lit candles. Suit, of course, it’s on fire, the guests are trying to extinguish, and Chanel, justifying himself, says, that everything that happened was an unfortunate accident. It is obvious that many there were doubts about this.



The peak of the popularity of the Schiaparelli fashion house came in the 1930s.

In 1934, Elsa opened a boutique and became an innovative marketer. Her collections - it has always been a very bold show ahead of its time. Models there were always thin and tall, and this was in pre-war times, when fashion shows and the models themselves were completely different.



After the outbreak of World War II, Elsa moved to the United States and there reduced the activities of its brand, leaving only perfume and accessories. At the end of the war, she could no longer return that frenzied glory - on the podium dominated by Christian Dior and Coco Chanel. In 1954, Schiaparelli from fashion is gone completely and only the perfume "Shocking" invented by her is still the same actively sold.



But! In 2013, the fashion house Schiaparelli rose and reopened its doors. They continue the work that Elsa started - outrageous, style, challenge.