Elsa Schiaparelli Read online

41 “In all the years”: Ned Rorem, Knowing When to Stop, p. 539.

  42 a couple of cauliflowers: BLUM, p. 244.

  43 she did not buy it: PHILA, p. 284.

  44 starting to build falsies: memo to Elsa Schiaparelli, BET, p. 80.

  45 Edwardian-style full-length capes: BLUM, p. 115.

  46 “brought back the frills”: Star, London, April 30, 1955.

  47 “going to call it Shocking Pink”: Loïc Allio, Buttons, p. 137.

  48 “daring, sometimes glaring”: Women’s Wear Daily, May 1938.

  49 “the perfume ran down”: Schiaparelli memo, BET, pp. 68–69.

  50 “a classic”: SH, p. 90.

  51 in the shape of a telephone: William Wiser, The Twilight Years, p. 148. Dilys Blum, costume curator at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, says this is not true.

  52 “Graham White’s yacht”: SH, p. 68.

  53 Horne had become chairman: FBI files, October 22, 1942, p. 6.

  54 “a daily fight”: Star, April 29, 1953.

  55 “like a steel ball”: SH, pp. 88–89.

  56 “When a motor car”: Star, April 29, 1953.

  57 but Poiret clung: FLA, p. 153.

  58 “a high-society look”: Judith Warner, New York Times, September 4, 2011.

  59 “she talks faster”: unpublished article, BET, p. 6.

  60 setting Schiaparelli on fire: BAL, p. 140.

  61 she was … an artist: L’Express, June 8, 1984.

  62 she wore it herself: BLUM, p. 162.

  63 most widely copied models; bought a sky-blue jacket: BLUM, p. 165.

  64 fastened at the waist with a butterfly: BLUM, p. 156.

  65 still being revived: in a sales catalogue for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, spring 2013.

  66 “Circus performers raced”: PHILA, p. 458.

  67 the identical embroidered bolero: François Lesage, Hommage à Schiaparelli, Musée de la Mode et du Costume, Paris, 1984, p. 114.

  68 “between the legs of elephants”: SH, p. 101.

  69 marching down the front: BLUM, p. 105.

  70 wine-colored silk velvet: BLUM, p. 166.

  71 amazing harlequin coat: That miracle of invention is among the prized items in the Schiaparelli collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

  72 a badge of honor: BLUM, pp. 186, 188.

  73 “I learned years later”: SH, p. 98.

  74 “And I was trembling”: Architectural Digest, October 1994.

  75 to make a bomb: Bureau of Investigation report, May 3, 1919.

  76 too easy for pickpockets: SH, p. 85.

  77 It was a caricature: BLUM, pp. 92–93; SH, pp. 78–87.

  CHAPTER 9 • SCANDALOUS SCHIAP

  1 “the tacit secrecy”: Janet Flanner, “Comet,” New Yorker, June 18, 1932.

  2 “She was terribly angry”: Hommage à Schiaparelli, Musée de la Mode et du Costume, 1984, p. 125.

  3 “We had to change”: Ibid., p. 131.

  4 “She was like an orchestral conductor”: Ibid.

  5 “Don’t worry about it”: Hommage, p. 136.

  6 a mile-high skyscraper: Meryle Secrest, Frank Lloyd Wright, p. 532.

  7 “the grace with which”: Luigi Barzini, The Italians, p. 80.

  8 “credibility and good taste”: Ibid.

  9 “a mine-field”: Ibid., p. 113.

  10 echoed Napoleon’s mother: Barzini, p. 114.

  11 “territorial ambition”: Alan Riding, And the Show Went On, p. 26.

  12 “ ‘Death to Jews’ ”: article on Leon Blum, BET, unpaginated.

  13 “The fantastic rise”: SH, p. 75.

  14 she was a member: report to de Gaulle, January 20, 1945.

  15 had never taken part in politics: SH, p. 75.

  16 “hypnotized like rabbits”: Noel Annan, Our Age, p. 198.

  17 “all we can do”: Kenneth Clark, The Other Half, p. 19.

  18 the subtle aroma of Shocking: BET archive.

  19 Aux Ambassadeurs: Women’s Wear Daily, June 15, 1937.

  20 no less than six: BET archive.

  21 “which wearer displayed”: BLUM, p. 84.

  22 Bettina asked Elsa: in 1952; BET archive.

  23 wept tears of boredom: BET archive, pp. 67–81.

  24 continual astonishment: Dominique Veillon, Fashion Under the Occupation, p. 4.

  25 a “smoking glove”: Vogue, June 15, 1939, pp. 30–31.

  26 her Jubilee hat: Ibid.

  27 “ ‘a fit’ of prosperity”: quoted in BLUM, p. 221.

  28 determinedly silly knot: BLUM, p. 227.

  29 “Couturiers are reviving”: New Yorker, August 19, 1939.

  30 “magnificent costume balls”: FLA, p. 220.

  31 “scrambled together”: BAL, p. 77.

  32 wearing a white Chinese robe: BLUM, p. 82.

  33 Schiaparelli … on a pedestal: BLUM, p. 83.

  34 jeweled harnesses: Vogue, August 15, 1939.

  35 “perfectly in order”: Vogue, August 15, 1939.

  36 some exquisite reproductions: Ibid.

  37 “Herded into the house”: BAL, p. 82.

  38 nobody knew who she was: SH, p. 101.

  39 “The rich were”: Loelia, Duchess of Westminster, Grace and Favour, p. 99.

  40 a model of dapper elegance: Ibid., facing p. 160.

  41 “never had much money”: Manchester Guardian, August 3, 1940.

  42 her new “cigarette” silhouette: BLUM, p. 221.

  43 “my London years”: SH, p. 100.

  44 “With memories”: Riding, p. 33.

  45 “The aeroplane flew”: SH, p. 104.

  46 “We went round town”: SH, p. 105.

  47 They were everywhere: New York Journal American, June 12, 1940.

  48 “the torture of the wounded”: Ibid.

  49 the regulation powder puff: BLUM, p. 228.

  50 lined in violet flannel: Veillon, p. 9.

  51 her personal pair: BLUM, p. 231.

  52 a built-in strap: BLUM, p. 236.

  53 an impromptu muff: BLUM, p. 237.

  54 full regalia: BLUM, p. 240.

  55 in fighting form: BLUM, p. 241.

  56 already in demand: New York Times, December 20, 1939.

  57 “a Meccano set”: LIEB, p. 191.

  58 “the most comfortable”: SH, p. 105.

  59 waiting to escape: LIEB, p. 166.

  60 “an arched veranda”: Manchester Guardian, August 3, 1940.

  61 “The train passed”: LIEB, pp. 32–35.

  62 “trim, chic and smiling”: Christian Science Monitor, March 1, 1940.

  63 extra nooks and crannies: Ibid.

  64 life flowed on: Western Morning News, March 20, 1940.

  65 “an Elizabethan theater”: LIEB, p. 105.

  66 “People stared uneasily”: LIEB, p. 106.

  67 “the most highly”: LIEB, p. 112.

  68 two machine-gun bullets: New York Journal and American, June 12, 1940.

  69 “nothing more romantic”: Ibid.

  70 “copies of the trousseau”: Women’s Wear Daily, December 18, 1940.

  71 sedate and discreet: Vogue, April 1, 1941.

  72 “the clients had gone”: Vogue, September 1, 1940.

  73 “The last impression”: LIEB, p. 146.

  74 “cars stood still”: LIEB, p. 147.

  75 “like the passage”: quoted in Humanities, July/August 2012, p. 30.

  76 “like silent sentinels”: SH, p. 108.

  77 “As they passed”: Riding, p. 43.

  78 “When the capitulation”: Vogue, September 1, 1940.

  79 “I knew the man well”: SH, p. 110.

  80 “In the little restaurants”: Vogue, October 1, 1940.

  81 So many refugees: SH, p. 111.

  82 “I never ceased”: SH, pp. 102–11.

  83 “In a rococo way”: Vogue, October 1, 1940.

  84 something like a month: Ibid.

  85 outside the danger zone: William Shirer, Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, pp. 785–92.


  86 he committed suicide: at 168 East Sixty-third Street, on March 8, 1941.

  87 a menacing summer: Vogue, October 1, 1940.

  88 The ambassador promptly left: Boston Globe, July 21, 1940.

  89 at least she was alive: BLUM, p. 223.

  CHAPTER 10 • THE “COLLABO”

  1 “Queen of French spas”: Irene Nemirovsky, Suite Française, p. 148.

  2 Bettina was skiing: BET archive. Schiaparelli arrived on December 6, 1940.

  3 a transcript of the speech: FBI files.

  4 wear a complete wardrobe: New York Times, September 24, 1940.

  5 “the best pro-French propaganda”: BET archive.

  6 a new German look: Bettina Bergery did not meet Schiaparelli in Paris.

  7 “It stays in Paris”: Alan Riding, And the Show Went On, p. 103.

  8 a young fashion designer: Ibid.

  9 “my very dearest friends”: SH, p. 117.

  10 “the notorious Otto Abetz”: William Shirer, Berlin Diary, p. 449.

  11 “King Otto I”: Ibid.

  12 she quietly changed seats: Irene Guenther, Nazi Chic: Fashioning Women in the Third Reich, p. 210.

  13 “a great personal friend”: Office of Strategic Services, August 5, 1943.

  14 “under neutral diplomatic protection”: SH, p. 120.

  15 “well worth while”: SH, p. 120.

  16 “The Satans were still standing”: BET archive.

  17 “open-mouthed in admiration”: BET diary, April 1941.

  18 her mother was jealous: Harper’s Bazaar, August 1993.

  19 the story of a spy: SH, p. 100.

  20 “To survive”: BEE, p. 79.

  21 “rather on the spot”: SH, pp. 121–22.

  22 “by now fully aware”: SH, p. 124.

  23 bank accounts frozen: BLUM, p. 224.

  24 “the darkest moments”: Alistair Horne, Seven Ages of Paris, p. 364.

  25 little or no gasoline: Vogue, November 15, 1940.

  26 “at ease in … the extreme right”: confidential report to De Gaulle, January 20, 1945.

  27 Adding insult to injury: FBI report, January 8, 1942, and memorandum, July 23, 1942.

  28 “it was impossible”: FBI report, January 8, 1942; memorandum, July 23, 1942.

  29 Grégoire … was apprehended: FBI sources.

  30 “one of the most active”: OSS report, August 5, 1943.

  31 “a dangerous enemy alien”: FBI files, August 7, 1942.

  32 “She brazenly sails”: Walter Winchell, New York Daily Mirror, June 12, 1940.

  33 offered her big money: FBI, October 30, 1941.

  34 with apparent good humor: FBI, September 28, 1940.

  35 “There is going to be”: FBI, October 14, 1940.

  36 “an espionage system”: FBI, July 18, 1941.

  37 “a rather ginny Edith”: HOR, p. 73.

  38 a tiny two-bedroom row house: HOR, pp. 207–208.

  39 using his diplomatic mail: FBI files, July 28, 1941.

  40 due to expire: on August 28, 1941.

  41 departure had been “sudden”: BET, p. 16, May 13, 1941.

  42 including a train wreck: Mary Thacher summary, undated.

  43 “more or less shut out”: Diane Labrosse, “Gaston Bergery and the Political Composition of the Early Vichy State.”

  44 stationed in Ankara: from 1942 to 1944.

  45 only a few days left: SH, p. 122.

  46 “a beau of mine”: Ibid.

  47 “So it was up to me”: Ibid.

  48 “the only time”: Ibid.

  49 “a permit to leave”: SH, p. 123.

  50 “He saw me safely”: Ibid.

  51 He obtained her Portuguese visa: SH, p. 124; FBI files, “T-6,” October 22, 1942.

  52 “Prices on all foods”: New York Times, May 26, 1941.

  53 Time would tell: Ibid.

  54 she could not divulge: SH, p. 124.

  55 true friends did not ask: Ibid.

  56 proceeds … were blocked: Lynn H. Nicholas, The Rape of Europa, pp. 93–94.

  57 “to rediscover myself”: SH, p. 128.

  58 “My conscience”: SH, p. 129.

  59 she had an office: FBI, January 8, 1942.

  60 “For unless she had been”: SH, p. 131.

  61 and that was flourishing: FBI, January 8, 1942.

  62 “to change my mood”: SH, p. 129.

  63 “no idea what”: FBI report, January 8, 1942.

  64 “A German naval force”: William Shirer, Berlin Diary, p. 594.

  65 “Because of her German”: Sheilah Graham, North American Newspaper Alliance, November 13, 1941.

  66 “while in South America”: FBI, January 15, 1942.

  67 was under investigation: FBI files, December 21, 1941.

  68 “he found Madame Schiaparelli”: FBI, January 15, 1942.

  69 vulnerable to pressures: FBI, July 23, 1942.

  70 how she could possibly: Ibid.

  CHAPTER 11 • WEARING TWO HATS

  1 thin slices of wood: Alan Riding, And the Show Went On, pp. 105–106.

  2 “part of the Resistance”: BEE, p. 250.

  3 “most valuable possessions,” “the whole country has made”: Dominique Veillon, Fashion Under the Occupation, pp. 94, 89.

  4 “not a sympathetic person”: FBI files, “T-4,” July 23, 1942.

  5 “definitely on the Left”: FBI files, “T-6,” July 23, 1942.

  6 “what have you done?”: SH, p. 108.

  7 “formerly South American firms”: FBI files, “T-6,” July 23, 1942.

  8 The British succeeded: FBI files. The U.S. Treasury froze the relevant bank accounts on November 27, 1941, and lifted the freeze on January 30, 1943.

  9 “café society gossip”: FBI files, August 27, 1942, and October 22, 1942.

  10 “so much closer to home”: Washington Post, July 29, 1943.

  11 “the London company’s … stock”: Office of Censorship memorandum, FBI files, August 3, 1944.

  12 that she not come back: FBI files, February 18, 1943.

  13 managed to plead her case: Ministry of Economic Warfare, UK, February 13, 1943.

  14 a staff of women nurses: Ibid., August 13, 1943.

  15 “not the true reason”: SH, p. 149.

  16 “demanded to go”: Ibid.

  17 absolutely not: Ibid.

  18 “they left me alone”: SH, p. 150.

  19 and then decorated: New York Times, February 3, 1965.

  20 “a tiny being”: SH, p. 145.

  21 “in a whorehouse”: HB, August 1993.

  22 “a man out of me”: Vogue, September 1, 1944.

  23 “short curly hair”: SH, p. 145.

  24 “visibly aged”: HOR, p. 307.

  25 “I still wonder”: HOR, p. 77.

  26 “It is clear”: Ministry of Economic Warfare, UK, October 21, 1944.

  27 “I felt disembodied”: SH, p. 151.

  28 “buy a ticket”: Ibid.

  29 he had not noticed: letter, June 23, 1944.

  30 “If they did not”: BEE, p. 41.

  31 “On the warmest”: BEE, p. 27.

  32 “his decision”: BEE, p. 45.

  33 “dissolved in tears”: JON, p. 495.

  34 lost their lives: BEE, p. 52.

  35 Her precious possessions: American Journal, p. 151.

  36 importance of the scoop: Penelope Rowlands, A Dash of Daring, p. 302.

  37 “The population of Paris”: Ibid., p. 306.

  38 “all laughing, flirting”: Ibid., p. 319.

  39 “a walking Christmas tree”: Leonora Ross, Boston Globe, July 4, 1945.

  40 “Everyone from”: Vogue, November 1, 1945.

  41 “but many of the little workers”: Vogue, November 1, 1945.

  42 waiting to be rescued: Marie-Laure de Noailles to Bettina Bergery, BET, January 31, 1945.

  43 “France had witnessed”: BEE, p. 79.

  44 De Gaulle wanted a report: March 5, 1945.

  45 “boldly defended the good
name”: SH, p. 154.

  46 “directly exploitable”: Dominique Veillon, Fashion Under the Occupation, p. 143.

  47 She was home free: Ibid., pp. 142–143.

  48 “My heart is French”: Riding, p. 334.

  49 was accused of betraying: BEE, p. 78.

  50 “jiggle their bare breasts”: BEE, p. 85.

  51 “Patriots who had”: BEE, p. 63.

  52 “L’Humanité did all it could”: BEE, p. 59.

  53 had done nothing: BEE, p. 163.

  54 a warrant had already been issued: on October 25, 1945.

  55 “Gaston is put”: letter, Thacher file, November 11, 1945.

  56 offering to put himself: Bergery papers.

  57 condemned to death: August, 1945.

  58 already been executed: on October 10, 1945.

  59 a handwritten note: June 21, 19—.

  60 consistently affectionate: Correspondence, BET archive.

  61 “That lurid melodrama …”: BET archive, no date.

  CHAPTER 12 • PICKING UP THE ARROW

  1 “took only two hundred”: BEE, p. 251.

  2 the skin of its teeth: Kenneth Clark, Civilisation, p. 1.

  3 “We must remember”: MODE, pp. 20–21.

  4 “the vitality of French”: BEE, p. 251.

  5 “Who could refuse”: MODE, p. 24.

  6 to the proper scale: MODE, p. 44.

  7 “For a dress”: Ibid.

  8 “plying a needle”: Ibid.

  9 the burst of creativity: BEE, p. 252.

  10 “one we will always”: MODE, p. 22.

  11 something lingered: MODE, p. 90.

  12 “crowded to see”: MODE, p. 18.

  13 “Within a week”: Washington Post, March 25, 1948.

  14 a live canary: Chicago Daily Tribune, December 10, 1948.

  15 Regency dandies: New York Times, September 14, 1945.

  16 as if a bowler hat: Vogue, October 15, 1946.

  17 straw boaters: BLUM, p. 263.

  18 “She is back”: Vogue, October 15, 1946.

  19 “the lacy fringes”: New Yorker, February 11/18, 2013.

  20 “ever the artistic”: Fashion and Surrealism, p. 17.

  21 “pick up the arrow”: SH, p. 156.

  22 look … like Parisians: SH, p. 165.

  23 “practical yet dignified”: SH, p. 159.

  24 “almost desperate shyness”: BEE, p. 256.

  25 “a balding bachelor”: Stanley Karnow, Paris in the Fifties, p. 261.

  26 “some people attempted”: BEE, p. 256.

  27 “so agitated”: BEE, p. 256.

  28 “a more settled”: LAV, p. 256.