Did you know that at the History Museum in Chicago you can find a collection of historic dresses, like for instance the ones signed Schiaparelli, Saint Laurent, or Balenciaga?
The History Museum has recently added a new permanent costume and textile gallery, that might represent a significative attraction to curious and fashion gurus (or students).
If you are a fashion student, or a proheminent Instagram influencer, a visit to see the famous historic collection of dresses and costumes is a must.
The Museum Collection, which consists of architectural fragments and models, costumes, textiles, paintings, sculpture, decorative arts, and other artifacts and works of art, is awaiting for scholars, journalists, and researchers. (source: chicagohistory.org/collections/)
The 30's were a defining period for America, as the Great Depression shaped the country's history.
In those hard times full of deprivations, were born the fashion and style empires, of course - not the way we know them today.
There were two lines for the way women were choosing their dresses and costumes: Paris, and Hollywood.
For a long time, Paris was "la ville-lumière", the city of Art, Love, Litterature, Culture, and also, fashion.
People with money went there to buy their wardrobes.
One of the most remarkable fashion creators from the period between the Two Wars, was Italian fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli.
She was Coco Chanel's rival, and is most remembered for shaping and renewing women's taste for fashion, beauty, body identity, feminine identity.
The costume collection of the history Museum in Chicago also holds creations from famous worldwide designers, such as Elsa Schiaparelli.
Schiaparelli's designs were heavily influenced by the artistic and cultural movement of Surrealism, and among her collaborators were Salvador Dalí and Jean Cocteau.
Her clients included famous personalities of the time, and Hollywood actresses.
Elsa Luisa Maria Schiaparelli was born in Rome, Italy, and studied philosophy at the University of Rome.
The cultural background and erudition of her family members served to ignite the imaginative faculties of Schiaparelli's childhood years. She became fascinated with ancient cultures and religious rites, like Greek or Aegypt mythologies.
Her parents send her to a school in Switzerland, but Elsa was dissatisfied by a lifestyle that, whilst refined and comfortable, she considered cloistered and unfulfilling. (source: Wikipedia)
Her fantasy and need for exploration and breaking borders sent her to Paris, the capital of art, imagination, and avant-guarde.
Follows a complicated, adventurous life for Elsa, an unhappy marriage that gave her a daughter.
Schiaparelli arrived to New York, attracted to its spirit of fresh beginnings and cultural vibrancy.
Her interest in spiritualism translated into a natural affinity for the art of the Dada and Surrealist movements.
Her friendship with Gaby Picabia, the wife of Dada/Surrealist Francis Picabia, facilitated Elsa's entry into this creative circle which comprised noteworthy members such as Man Ray, Marcel Duchamp, Alfred Stieglitz, and Edward Steichen. (source: Wikipedia)
The self-made associations she formed over the years along with the eminent social position held by her Italian family combined to ensure that she would be embraced by desirable social circles on her return to France, in 1922, establishing herself in Paris.
Schiaparelli's design career was early on influenced by couturier Paul Poiret, who was renowned for promoting styles that enabled freedom of movement for the modern, elegant and sophisticated woman.
The Schiaparelli House of fashion had its beginnings in the 1927s and registered a certain success, with the "out-of-the-box" creations, with fabrics and prints that were innovative and surprising to everyone.
Schiaparelli brought escapism in a period that was not a happy one in history. She invented the "shocking pink", the gloves with painted nails, and many other unusual things for those times.
Just to make you understand where the imagination went, Schiaparelli and collaborators invented the hats that were imitating a shoe.
You must search the Internet for images of her creations, or go see them live, in museum exhibitions.
Schiaparelli is very present in today's fashion, being a source of inspiration for many of the creators who want to bring something inedit and unusual.