Bloom: A Story of Fashion Designer Elsa Schiaparelli by Kyo Maclear & Julie Morstad

Bloom tells the story of fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli who was most famous for her creations during the interwar decades of 1920 and 1930's. Elsa was responsible for many significant contributions to fashion.


Elsa Luisa Maria Schiaparelli was born in Rome, in her family's home at the Palazzo Corsini, in 1890. She was born into a family with several accomplished intellectuals. Her father, Celestino Schiaparelli was a scholar whose research focused on the Middle Ages and who was Dean of the University of Rome. His brother, Elsa's uncle, Giovanni Schiaparelli discovered the canals on Mars. And a cousin of the Elsa's father and uncle, Ernesto Schiaparelli was the director of the Museo Egizio in Turin and a noted Egyptologist.

Elsa seemed destined from the beginning to be rebellious and unsettled.She had a rebellious childhood often playing pranks that had serious consequences. She attended the University of Rome, studying philosophy. During this time she wrote a book of poetry titled Arethusa, that her parents considered scandalous. Their response was to force her into a convent but she was able to leave after undertaking a hunger strike.  She left her family in Rome in 1913 and worked as a nanny in England to avoid marrying a Russian man whom her parents favoured. However, in London she became involved with Willem de Wendt, who also used the surname of de Kerlor and who was a sort of psychic involved in many different schemes including fortune telling. Many considered him a swindler. Elsa became engaged to him a day after meeting him! They married and were eventually forced to leave England, travelling to several countries before moving to America.

Elsa was eventually abandoned by de Kerlor in 1920, leaving her to care for their daughter, Maria Louisa Yvonne Radha whom she nicknamed Gogo. She returned to Paris in 1922 where she continued to receive support from her mother.  Although she had no training in the making of patterns and the sewing of clothing, Elsa began designing her own clothing. At first she made pieces for various clients. Her first big success came with hand knit sweaters featuring a black and white trompe l'oeil design. These took the fashion world by storm and Elsa's fashion career was off and running.

Elsa Schiaparelli from Vogue

In the 1930's Elsa Schiaparelli became involved with many famous artists who were part of the Surrealist movement. These included Salvatore Dali, Jean Cocteau, Alberto Giacometti and Leonor Fini. In collaboration with these artists, Elsa created some very distinct and creative pieces of clothing, including a dress with a lobster painted on by Dali, and an evening coat featuring what appears to be a vase of roses but also two profiles facing each other.

Elsa's contributions to fashion included the wedge shoe, the jumpsuit, paper clothes, transparent raincoats, specialty furs, the scarf dress, and coloured hosiery. She popularized pants and shoulder pads and her signature colour was a vibrant magenta which she named "Shocking". Many famous actresses of the period wore her clothes including Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Katherine Hepburn and Joan Crawford.

Kyo Maclear presents a very simple version of Elsa Schiaparelli's life, bringing out some of the more interesting details that are sure to capture the interest of younger readers. Elsa's life is portrayed as that of a child not welcomed by her parents. Hoping for a boy, her parents had no name for her and gave her the name of a nurse. According to the story in Bloom, Elsa's sister Beatrice was the favourite of their parents who often referred to  Elsa as "Brutta". Although her life was complicated, Elsa persevered, overcoming "Mamma's harsh words and Pappa's judgement" and opened her first shop at the age of thirty-seven!  According to Maclear, Elsa's success is marred by the belief that her parents and Beatrice "will never approve of the path I have taken."

Throughout Bloom,  Maclear incorporates quotes from Elsa's autobiography, "Shocking Life: The Autobiography of Elsa Schiaparelli". This picture book employs brilliant magenta throughout - reminiscent of Elsa's favourite colour.  Elsa's story is brought to life by the colourful artwork of  Julie Morstad who utilized liquid watercolour, gouache, and pencil crayons to create the illustrations for Bloom.

There's no doubt Elsa Shiaparelli is a fashion designer largely forgotten by most today. But her influence can be found in much of the clothing considered fashionable by women. Bloom helps to remind readers, young and not-so-young about this famous Italian designer whose major competition was Coco Chanel!


The website, Kaleidoscope  Jewellry has an interesting post on Elsa Schiaparelli's twelve commandments for women featuring some photographs of her exquisite embroidery that are worth checking out.

Book Details:

Bloom: A Story of Fashion Designer Elsa Schiaparelli by Kyo Maclear and Julie Morstad
New York: Tundra Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House Canada Young Readers      2018