The Surreal Life of Elsa Schiaparelli

Elsa Schiapparelli was the founder of a fashion house which has become known for its sometimes outrageous, always glamorous designs. But beyond fashion, her transatlantic life would involve a conman and an FBI investigation as she tried to use her inflfuential and famous friends to bolster her success through the second World War. Support Noble Blood: —ORDER 'THE ARCANE ARTS' https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/771398/the-arcane-arts-by-s-d-coverly/ — Bonus episodes, stickers, and scripts on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/noblebloodtales — Order Dana's book, 'Anatomy: A Love Story https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250840578/anatomyalovestory' and its sequel 'Immortality: A Love Story https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250861016/immortalityalovestory' See omnystudio.com/listener https://omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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• 0:00Dana Schwartz?

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• 0:40Speaker 01

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• 1:56Speaker 02

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• 2:26Dana Schwartz?

  Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Mankey. Listener discretion advised. It's May of 1937, and Wallace Simpson is the most hated woman in England. Only months earlier, her soon-to-be husband, King Edward VIII, had announced his abdication after learning Wallace would not receive the title of her Royal Highness. He declared over radio broadcast, "I have found it impossible to discharge my duties as king without the help and support of the woman I love."

• 3:11Dana Schwartz?

  Whether or not it had been his intention, Edward had painted a target on his beloved's back. As a twice-divorced American socialite, she was already seen by many as utterly unsuitable for the royal family. But the abdication made her the scapegoat for an entire constitutional crisis. Wallace became a modern Lilith in the eyes of the British public, having seduced and ensnared her target away from his duties. That May, her divorce from her previous husband was finally finalized, and she and Edward were set to marry in June.

• 3:56Dana Schwartz?

  As she prepared to become the Duchess of Windsor, Wallace had two choices: to soften her image or to lean in to her reputation as a temptress. How would she do that? Through fashion, of course. She once said, "I'm not a beautiful woman. I'm nothing to look at, so the only thing I can do is dress better than anyone else." And dress well she did. For a pre-wedding photo shoot with Vogue, Wallace managed to find a gown that conveyed both an ethereal lightness and a cheeky sexuality.

• 4:38Dana Schwartz?

  This woman's dinner dress was made of ivory silk organza, perfect for a bride-to-be, except the dress also had one extremely notable detail: a large, printed lobster positioned between her legs. The gown was a collaboration between two prominent friends: the artist Salvador Dali, who repeatedly featured the lobster motif as a representation of sexuality in his work, and the women's fashion designer of the moment, Elsa Schiaparelli.

• 5:17Dana Schwartz?

  The photo of Simpson, taken by Cecil Beaton and published in an eight-page spread in the June 1937 issue of Vogue, ultimately only fueled the public's hatred of Wallace Simpson. The dress was too bold, too weird, too sexual. But Wallace would get the last laugh in fashion history. Schiaparelli only continued to soar to new heights as a designer, and the lobster dress remains one of her most recognizable works to this day. It currently resides in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where Schiaparelli donated a

• 6:02Dana Schwartz?

  large archive of her work. Though the Schiaparelli Fashion House would shutter in 1954, it was revived in 2013 and has referenced the lobster motif in 21st-century designs. The original look represents the magic of Elsa Schiaparelli's work: her ability to tap into the artistic and surreal without sacrificing glamour and wearability. Much of her business was built on her understanding of what the modern woman wanted. For example, she knew to draw the line when Dali wanted to smear the lobster with mayonnaise.

• 6:46Dana Schwartz?

  Listeners might be familiar with Schiaparelli's name, but they may be surprised to learn of her Italian noble origins, which can be traced back through her maternal line. That lineage influenced her friends and clients in adulthood. Despite her heritage, the story of "Scap," as she often called herself, wasn't always as glamorous as her gowns. There was the matter of her con man husband, the cutthroat nature of the couture industry, and later, the suspicion that she may have had more in common with the Duke and Duchess of Windsor beyond fashion.

• 7:31Dana Schwartz?

  As listeners of this podcast may recall from our episode, "The Duke and Adolf Hitler," Edward and Wallace are remembered for being, at the very least, Nazi sympathizers. During the Second World War, Elsa was accused of being everything from a vicious spy to a Nazi collaborator and was monitored by both US and British intelligence services. Much of their suspicion had to do with her vast network of connections across European nobility and political royalty, and her alleged willingness to use those connections

• 8:14Dana Schwartz?

  to the best of her advantage. The truth behind those rumors is certainly more complicated than the situation was with the Windsors. This is an episode about the extraordinary rise and near fall of the utterly singular Elsa Schiaparelli. While many nobles and politicians played their parts in her success over the years, one cannot deny that, in the end, it was all her design. I'm Dana Schwartz, and this is Noble Blood.

• 8:52Dana Schwartz?

  When Elsa Schiapparelli was born in Rome in September of 1890, her parents were expecting a boy. Unprepared for a daughter, they scrambled for a name at the christening. Her German nurse was called Elsa, so that would do. With her naming, Elsa, wrote in her autobiography, “The struggle had begun.” It was the kind of struggle we have seen many times on this podcast. The struggle of a child who wants for nothing save for warmth and attention. Her father was a successful scholar from a family of successful scholars.

• 9:35Dana Schwartz?

  Her mother was the daughter of a marquise, and her maternal ancestry could be traced back to the southern aristocrats from Naples, descended from dukes of Tuscany. Elsa never spoke much of her mother, Maria Luisa, but we know Maria Luisa grew up as the ugly duckling, always compared to her more beautiful sister. Maria Luisa then replicated that familiar dynamic with her own daughters, with Elsa treated as the inferior beauty compared to her elder sister Beatrice. In her memoir, Elsa recounts an incident in which, convinced of her own ugliness,

• 10:19Dana Schwartz?

  she decided she wanted to become a beautiful flower. She “planted seeds” in her ears, nose, and mouth, and it took two doctors to remove them all. Years later, her friend Dali would stage a public work by sending a woman to feed the pigeons in Trafalgar Square with her head entirely covered in flowers. Young Scapparelli was an artist in her own right. Her father’s books inspired a love of the ancients in her, and as a teenager, she wrote a collection of poems. Elsa showed them to her academic uncle, who later published them.

• 11:04Dana Schwartz?

  Her parents, horrified by the romantic content of her poems, shipped her off to a Swiss convent school. It was likely there that Elsa first learned to sew, but the free-spirited Italian girl was otherwise horribly at odds with the school’s Puritan culture. After getting in trouble for bathing naked, Elsa began a hunger strike. News of her protest made it back to her family, and her father swiftly retrieved her. Her defiance had won the day, but there would be more to fight at home. Her parents had already chosen her a husband,

• 11:48Dana Schwartz?

  a wealthy Russian man who utterly repulsed Elsa. By this point, she was in her early twenties, and the threat of making good on the marriage promise loomed ever closer. When a friend offered her a job as a caretaker in England, she jumped at the opportunity to leave behind Rome and her suitor. Elsa traveled to London by train, stopping for a few days in Paris. It was the 1910s, and something radical was happening to French women’s clothing. Full-length skirts and petticoats were disappearing. Structured rigidness was giving way to soft drapery,

• 12:33Dana Schwartz?

  in part inspired by the Ballet Russe’s recent production of Shahrazad, with costumes designed by Leon Becht. During Elsa’s brief stay in Paris, she was invited to a ball. Having no dress, she went to the shops and bought bolts of fabric, which she draped upon herself. The dress she engineered was apparently quite the hit, but she hadn’t thought much about its practicality, and it began to unravel as the night went on. As she recalled in her memoir, Scapparelli decided then and there,

• 13:15Dana Schwartz?

  “This is the place where I’m going to live.” Still, she had a commitment in London, and while it was no Paris, she enjoyed the opportunity to explore the new city. One night in London, she attended a lecture on theosophy, the new age philosophical religious movement. The lecturer was, in Elsa’s opinion, “rather handsome in a queer way,” and captivated the audience with his talk on the power of the soul. After the lecture, the two began talking and didn’t stop. The next morning, they were engaged. When the news reached Elsa’s parents,

• 13:58Dana Schwartz?

  they rushed to London to stop their daughter, but they were too late. Wilhelm de Vente de Kurler, aged 30, and Elsa Luisa Maria Scapparelli, 23, were married in London on July 21, 1914. By marrying Wilhelm, Elsa obtained the title of Countess. Who exactly was this man, this alleged count? That is a great question, though not a simple one to answer. It might be easier to tell you what he wasn’t. He was not a count by any family lineage,

• 14:41Dana Schwartz?

  nor was he a doctor or a professor, as he sometimes claimed to be. He was born Wilhelm Frederick Vente, but went by numerous variations of that name, including the one on his marriage license. He hailed from Geneva, but claimed he was Polish, Austrian, French, or English, depending on the day. He offered services as a medium, a clairvoyant, a palm reader, really whatever was in vogue at the moment. It’s probably clear to you that what Wilhelm really was, was a con man. While Elsa likely didn’t know the extent

• 15:25Dana Schwartz?

  of her new husband’s mendacious tendencies— how could she, after all, after such a quick elopement? —I imagine she was drawn to his confidence in creating his own success. It’s a trait mirrored in herself. For example, in London, Wilhelm ran his business out of one Piccadilly Place. Piccadilly Place is not the famed Piccadilly Circus, but rather an alley off the road, but Wilhelm understood it was the name that mattered. Years later, when Scapparelli first established herself in the Parisian fashion scene,

• 16:05Dana Schwartz?

  she knew that her shop had to be on the glamorous Rue de la Paix, never mind that her living space above the shop was actually a rat-infested attic. In 1915, Wilhelm, or “Dr. Caroler,” was sentenced to six weeks in prison, followed by deportation under the Vagrancy Act, which punished “every person pretending or professing to tell fortunes or using any subtle craft by palmistry or otherwise to deceive and impose on any of His Majesty’s subjects.”

• 16:48Dana Schwartz?

  Almost a year to the day after their marriage, Elsa and Wilhelm packed their things and left England. Her memoir does not actually reveal how she felt about this turn of events. Because of the war, Elsa’s dream of moving to Paris was not an option. Instead, the couple crossed the Atlantic on the SS Chicago, which, despite its name, actually sailed to New York. What did Wilhelm do when he reached the land of opportunity? Started reading poems again, of course. I could detail Wilhelm’s various New York ventures,

• 17:30Dana Schwartz?

  including a vaudeville stint, but that would be its own episode. For now, just know, life in New York for Elsa was not ideal. The couple was making very little money on their own, and they lived off the wedding dowry and an allowance from Elsa’s parents. Five years into marriage, Wilhelm’s charm was wearing off. He was once again under suspicion of the law, and his constant endeavors were getting tired.

• 18:02Dana Schwartz?

  Elsa was starting to build connections outside of her husband. On a 1916 boat trip, she met Gabrielle Buffet Picabia, wife of the French artist and surrealist Francis Picabia. The two had a number of things in common. For one, Gabrielle was descended from minor French aristocracy, just as Elsa was descended from minor Italian aristocracy. For another, both of their marriages were falling apart. Gabrielle would become an extremely important person in Elsa’s life. Despite Elsa’s failing marriage, she became pregnant in the fall of 1919.

• 18:46Dana Schwartz?

  Their daughter Maria Luisa Yvonne Radada-Curloir was born in June of 1920, and Wilhelm appears to have walked out on his family shortly after. Elsa appears to have never sought out Wilhelm for child support. The girl who had gone on a hunger strike in boarding school had grown into a woman determined to do things her own way. At times Gabrielle helped take care of the baby, or Elsa boarded the baby with a hired caretaker. The daughter came to be known as Gogo, and as an adult, she described the origin of her nickname. Her mother was constantly on the move,

• 19:31Dana Schwartz?

  still maintaining a full social calendar despite the tenuous financial situation she was in. “I would look up and say, ‘Go, go, going, go, go,’” Gogo recounted. “So I was called Gogo, and it stuck.” Ironically, it describes mother’s maternal pattern perfectly. Gogo’s childhood was defined by an early polio diagnosis and time spent between various clinics where Elsa was not always present. They maintained a strained relationship through Gogo’s adulthood. Her wedding was conveniently held while her mother was away across the ocean.

• 20:14Dana Schwartz?

  Elsa’s luck in New York was running out. Paris called to her again, and her friend Gabrielle was already on her way there. Before Elsa left New York, she made sure Gogo had an American passport, and she legally changed her surname from de Curloir to Scapparelli. Elsa’s divorce from Wilhelm was eventually finalized in 1924, and four years later, he was murdered in Mexico under very mysterious circumstances. An enigmatic end for an enigmatic man. Neither his wife nor his daughter had seen him since he’d walked out on them years ago,

• 20:59Dana Schwartz?

  and Elsa never married again.

• 21:05Dana Schwartz?

  Elsa and Gogo sailed for France in June of 1922. Paris was struggling after four years of war, but that made it cheap to live in. It’s partially what drew Elsa to the capital, alongside other creatives like Picasso, Modigliani, Hemingway, and Gertrude Stein. Women’s fashion had become even more radical than when Elsa first visited in the previous decade. Hemlines had risen above the ankle, and hairdos had risen above the neck. Gabby not only temporarily housed Elsa and Gogo upon their arrival, but found the latter a new doctor, working with experimental technology,

• 21:50Dana Schwartz?

  and made the connection that kick-started Elsa’s fashion career. Gabby and her husband were friends of Paul Poret, the designer who, according to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, “effectively established the canon of modern dress and developed the blueprint of the modern fashion industry.” He pioneered the draped, corset-free silhouette that was coming to define the era. Poret hired Gabby to host an event, but she had no money to buy a new evening dress. As she had done for herself years earlier,

• 22:32Dana Schwartz?

  Elsa draped the fabric directly onto Gabby’s body, creating what would be one of the first-ever Scapparelli dresses. This time, however, she was more careful with her pins, and the dress didn’t become undone over the course of the evening. Poret conveyed his compliments to the designer, and Elsa decided a designer was exactly what she would become. Scapparelli began to assemble a portfolio of designs, using herself as a model. While she did not have formal training beyond her convent sewing lessons, the loose, modern style left room for error.

• 23:15Dana Schwartz?

  Her breakthrough, however, came not from a dress, but a sweater. Sweaters at this point in history were considered sportswear, and were largely shapeless utilitarian garments. The story goes that Elsa met an American woman wearing a “most unusual sweater,” structured and fitted thanks to its double stitching. Elsa found out that the garment had been hand-knitted by an Armenian woman known as Mieke, and asked her to collaborate. Scapparelli designed a simple, fitted sweater with a witty trompe l’oeil bow at the neck, and Mieke executed it.

• 24:00Dana Schwartz?

  The significance of the bow, a printed illusion, was that for the first time, the modern woman did not have to fasten a real bow to her garment, just as she didn’t have to layer petticoats or fasten corsets. The design was nodding to the trimmings of the past while moving with the tide towards casual dressing. Elsa showed the sweaters in her May 1927 collection, and a year later, The New Yorker was confidently stating that, “Scapparelli, after all, belongs to knitted sweaters, and they to her.”

• 24:44Dana Schwartz?

  During that year, Elsa attracted the attention of a businessman named Charles Kahn, associated with the Galeries Lafayette department store. As partners, they formally launched the firm of Scapparelli in December 1927. Elsa soon launched her first maison de couture, located at 4 Rue de la Paix. The attic above, as mentioned earlier, became her, frankly, dingy living space and studio. As we all know, a woman must have some money and a room of her own if she is to design.

• 25:24Dana Schwartz?

  Scapparelli’s success would always be in understanding her customer. She once said, “In designing, I consider both clothes and the body architecturally. Structure and line are the all-important factors in the construction of fashions.” And of course, comfort too. Clothes must look as if they belong to the woman who wears them, or they’re not right. You may be thinking that 1927 was a bad time to open a luxury business, but Scapparelli’s philosophy of combining style and practicality made her clothing a desired commodity.

• 26:08Dana Schwartz?

  She had an excellent eye for seeing holes in the market and understanding how she could fill them. In 1931, exports of French luxury goods were down 50% from the year before, but for Scapparelli, her 400 employees were making between 7,000 and 8,000 garments a year by 1934. She did excellent business abroad, even through the Depression. Americans couldn’t get enough of her. The New Yorker claimed, “Today, she is recognized as the leading smart designer.”

• 26:49Dana Schwartz?

  As the House of Scapparelli grew, so did Elsa’s ideas. In the 1930s, she expanded the house’s market and began to design more evening wear. Her clothes became more structured, featuring the broad, strong shoulders she’s known for today. At the time, Vogue commented, “Clothes carpenter that she is, Scapparelli builds up the shoulders, planes them off, and carves a decisive line from under the arms to the hip bone, gouging in the waist.” In 1934, Time featured her on the cover and proclaimed her a genius.

• 27:32Dana Schwartz?

  Around this time, Elsa began her collaboration with Dali. Their first design was a suit with descending drawers as pockets. Then there was the “Tears” gown, which featured a print designed to look like tears in the fabric alongside real ones. And a skeleton dress, which featured full-length gloves and a 3D skeleton effect, made to look like the wearer had a second skin. And who could forget the shoe hat, which was, well, a hat in the shape of a shoe.

• 28:12Dana Schwartz?

  Elsa’s surrealist designs were embraced because she was able to transform the abstract into the wearable. She had bridged the gap between art and commerce. When she was designing, her mind “went up into the rarified skies of her most fantastic imagination and set off cascades of fireworks. Fantasy and ingenuity broke forth.” Elsa designed gloves that looked like hands. Picasso, meanwhile, painted hands that looked like gloves. Elsa’s rival, Coco Chanel, once called her “that Italian artist who makes clothes.

• 28:57Dana Schwartz?

  It was meant to be a put-down, but can hardly be qualified as such.” Speaking of that rivalry, one legend goes that Chanel once invited Elsa to dance and then spun her right into an open flame. Elsa was less interested in a little black dress and more so in bright hot pink, a shade she invented and dubbed “shocking pink.” When she launched a perfume line, the first and best-known scent would be called “shocking!” The bottle, designed with Dali, was shaped like the actress Mae West’s torso.

• 29:39Dana Schwartz?

  In Europe, Scapparelli had a certain amount of social cachet, thanks to her noble lineage, and she was able to easily integrate with the right circles of artists and tastemakers. These duchesses and socialites and actresses became her best clients. Catherine Hepburn credits a Scapparelli makeover as “kickstarting her career,” and Elsa began to design costumes for films. Of her clients, she was less a fan of the English noblewomen, complaining that the “great ladies” never paid their bills.

• 30:21Dana Schwartz?

  Of those women, Bettina Shaw-Jones holds particular importance. Bettina was a Long Island socialite and aspiring author who made her way to Paris and fell in love with a young, married politician, Gaston Bergerie. The two would eventually marry themselves, and Gaston’s name will return in a bit. But for now, Bettina entered Elsa’s life by repeatedly begging her for a job until the latter relented. She became Scapparelli’s first public relations director and stayed with the house through the 1950s.

• 31:04Dana Schwartz?

  In 1935, Elsa moved from her salon at the Rue de la Paix into a 98-room space at the Place Vendôme. She no longer had to live above her shop. Two years later, she bought an 18-room mansion once owned by Princess Matilde Bonaparte, a niece of Napoleon’s. Scapparelli wrote, “I learned years later, to my great surprise, that I was distantly, very distantly, related to the princess. I bought it on the spot.” In 1939, as tensions were rising in Europe, Scapparelli was at the height of her fame and power.

• 31:49Dana Schwartz?

  She asserts in her memoir that she had never taken part in politics. That is a blatant lie, or at least a blatant self-delusion. Post-war French intelligence established that in 1939, she was a member of a group that was a loose assembly of socialists, revolutionaries, and other interested parties known as the Solidarité Internationale Antifestiste. In those early months, Parisian life for Elsa went on as usual. In fact, the parties only seemed to get bigger, and clients were more eager than ever to

• 32:31Dana Schwartz?

  see what Scapparelli would come up with next. To misquote the musical, “Life was an atelier.” Elsa’s designs could not be detached from larger shifts happening in the world. Evening dresses she showed in 1939 featured gathered fabric in the back, resembling a misshapen bustle or perhaps a backwards apron. The revival of the bustle was becoming a larger industry trend, and the corset threatened to return. The New Yorker published in the summer of 1939, “Couturiers are reviving the days

• 33:13Dana Schwartz?

  when it was a man’s world and women suffered discomfort, making themselves decorative.” It was that same fateful summer in which Germany invaded Poland and Britain and France declared war on the Third Reich. Parisians panicked, believing their city would be attacked immediately as it had been in World War I. Scapparelli’s atelier fitted its basement as a shelter. She was still open for business, but there wasn’t much business to be had. European customers were not ordering couture. Much of her staff had left, and some of her peers were closing their doors.

• 33:57Dana Schwartz?

  Elsa, ingenious as always, started designing for the moment. There was her famous siren suit, a jumpsuit that could be quickly pulled on with wide legs, a fitted bodice, and pockets large enough to carry identity papers and flashlights. There was a carry-all bag, designed to fit a gas mask and a first-aid kit, as well as a powder puff and lipstick. She didn’t forget evening wear. Large pockets became an accessory, embroidered and gilded. And as for her perfume line, she designed a bottle shaped like a candlestick, knowing

• 34:40Dana Schwartz?

  that soon electricity would be in short supply. Meanwhile, the war escalated outside of Paris. Elsa began to house refugees, up to 30 at once, in her home. Downstairs, she hosted a meeting place for British officers, volunteer American ambulance drivers, and women in the French mechanized transport corps. On the morning of June 14, Elsa received a call. “Chap, the Germans will be in Paris in a few hours,” a friend of the cabinet relayed. “I advise you, for many reasons, to leave immediately.”

• 35:21Dana Schwartz?

  Elsa and about 20 of her staff immediately traveled south. They were offered space in an associate’s summer home. Despite the threat of an occupied Paris, Elsa’s greatest concern was still finishing her fall collection. Though her business seemed to survive crisis after crisis, things had finally come to a breaking point. The armistice was signed on June 22. Elsa had signed on for a coast-to-coast lecture tour that was slated to start later in the year, and she decided to leave right away.

• 36:03Dana Schwartz?

  She had already obtained the necessary travel permits for Spain and Portugal and was granted a lucrative American visa without much trouble because she “knew the man well who was in charge of the distribution.” Elsa traveled with two titled French women and their sons, whom she intended to help cross the border. One of the fathers did not want his child to leave the country, so Elsa smuggled him past the security checkpoint by hiding him in her coat. Fashion, functional as ever.

• 36:42Dana Schwartz?

  Somehow always getting what she wanted, Elsa obtained cross-Atlantic tickets for herself and everyone in her party. They arrived in New York on July 20, 1940, alongside the US ambassador to France, who had been recalled. Elsa was safe and reunited with Gogo.

• 37:06Dana Schwartz?

  Pour la partie suivante de la histoire, je dois brièvement détailler un peu l'histoire française. Pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, la France a été divisée en deux zones, une occupée par la Allemagne et l'autre ostensibly contrôlée par la France. La dernière "zone libre" était Vichy France, gouvernée par des nationalistes français autoritaires qui voulaient faire des concessions importantes aux Allemands. Le document de fondation de Vichy s'appelait la Déclaration de Bergerie, écrite par la femme de Bettina. Terminée avec son voyage américain, Elsa décida de ne pas rester à la sécurité de New York,

• 37:50Dana Schwartz?

  mais de retourner en France, où elle savait qu'elle pouvait vivre confortablement à Vichy France sous la protection de ses powerfules amis. Sa capacité à bouger si librement était semblablement dûe à la, disons, diversité de ces noms puissants. Même si la plupart de ses amis aristocratiques étaient contre la guerre, elle avait plusieurs amis et associats, comme la Duchesse de Windsor, qui étaient les femmes de politiciens pro-allemands. Elsa se disait que la femme d'Otto Abitz, un ancien professeur d'art, qui devenait ambassadeur de Hitler sur la France occupée.

• 38:34Dana Schwartz?

  Quand Elsa est revenue à Paris depuis Vichy, elle a prétendu que sa maison était "sous protection diplomatique neutre". Elle a organisé des soirées de déjeuner au salon avec du café réel envoyé par des contacts à l'embassadeuse belge. Même si elle jouait toujours à être la socialite, Elsa savait qu'elle pouvait ne pas garder le style de vie pendant si longtemps. Sa capacité à rester "neutre", ou à jouer sur les deux côtés, était une bombe temporelle. Comme elle a réfléchi vaguement dans son mémoire, "La pression contre moi, même si indéfinie, était de plus en plus oppressive.

• 39:17Dana Schwartz?

  Même si j'ai évité chaque problème, j'ai trouvé moi-même plutôt à la place." Les Allemands occupateurs devaient devenir suspicious. La maison de mode et le commerce de parfum avaient été placés sous le contrôle d'un commissaire allemand, et son compte bancaire était glissé. Les Américains ne la regardaient pas favorablement non plus. Elsa a dit pendant son voyage que la mode parisienne continuait à être préeminent et ne pouvait être remplacée par de l'argent américain. Peut-être, croyaient les FBI, Vichy avait payé elle de dire ça. Même si des dossiers étaient rassemblés derrière les scènes,

• 40:00Dana Schwartz?

  certaines accusations étaient en public. Le Daily Mirror de New York a publié une lettre qu'il a reçue d'un spécialiste des importations françaises qui avait brièvement aidé Elsa. Dans sa lettre, il prétendait que Schiaparelli avait un système d'espionnage à son propre entreprise, encourageant son employeur italien à gâcher avec les chauffeurs de clients alors que ses販女 listened in et rapportaient. Au début, l'agent spécial assigné à sa casse croyait que ça était à l'extérieur de la province des FBI. Mais plus tard, après que le gérant allemand de la maison de parfum de New York

• 40:46Dana Schwartz?

  a été étiqueté comme ennemi, les FBI ont commencé à regarder plus près. Le rumeur d'un système d'espionnage interne a été rapidement croyé par Hoover lui-même.

• 40:59Dana Schwartz?

  Malgré les suspicions américaines, Elsa revenait à New York. Sa passeport français était prévu d'expirer en été 1941, et elle a pu obtenir une précieuse "visa d'immigrante" qui lui a permis de travailler aux États-Unis. Elle a once écrit : "Ce qui semblait impossible était vraiment très simple si vous aviez de bons amis." Elsa est arrivée à l'Aéroport de LaGuardia via le Pan Am Clipper en mai 1941. Les reporters sur la scène voulaient savoir comment elle avait pu quitter la France si facilement. Les FBI ont surveillé ses mouvements.

• 41:41Dana Schwartz?

  La réponse d' Elsa était de louer une maison à Long Island près de l'eau, où elle a sauté et a pris des mousses pour déjeuner. Elle a ensuite écrit : "Ma conscience m'a torturé parce que, bien que l'esprit ne empêche pas d'acter ou de pécher, il ne permet pas d'apprécier et d'apprécier le résultat, même s'il y a une doute." La conscience d' Elsa l'a-t-elle torturée parce qu'elle a vécu paisiblement alors que les autres ont souffert des réalités de la guerre ? Ou elle a été torturée par une plus grande complicité ? Même si sa industrie couture a souffert, le parfum de Schiaparelli était toujours en bon état.

• 42:25Dana Schwartz?

  Les ventes en Amérique du Sud se faisaient seulement à environ 50 000 dollars par an. Donc Elsa a pris une voyage de sept semaines pour faire de nouveaux contacts. Son propre gérant de distribution est devenu suspicious. En sachant qu'elle était proche des Bergeries et des designs allemands pour l'Amérique du Sud, il croyait qu'elle faisait du business Vichy en dehors. Une écriture des FBI sur la voyage dit : "Même si en Amérique du Sud, Madame Schiaparelli a laissé des indices dans des conversations privées à l'effet que l'Amérique du Sud serait bien à regarder l'Europe, pas seulement comme un centre de mode post-guerre."

• 43:11Dana Schwartz?

  Les FBI ont continué à construire un cas contre elle. Un associé, Count René de Chambron, descendant de Lafayette et mari de la fille du président Vichy, se disait que, disons, "Il a trouvé Madame Schiaparelli de la plus grande utilité, tant qu'elle pouvait bouger dans et hors de France occupée, apparemment à volonté." Mais plus les FBI ont étendu, moins de preuves dévastant ont été trouvées. Elsa avait, comme je l'ai mentionné, historiquement été impliquée dans les cercles de gauche, et ses sympathies pour Vichy ne la rendaient pas automatiquement une espionne. Même si elle était timide dans les cercles français,

• 43:56Dana Schwartz?

  elle était ouvertement anti-Mussolini et détestait ce qu'il faisait dans son pays. "Elle était une femme d'affaires", un interviewé a rappelé les FBI. "L'Amérique du Sud était là où les ventes de parfum étaient." Et pourquoi elle dit qu'elle soutenait publiquement la mode américaine sur son propre industrie ? La question de l'innocence d' Elsa ne serait pas résolue jusqu'à ce que la guerre soit terminée. Summoneuse à expliquer elle-même, elle avait cette réponse simple pour ses enquêteurs. "J'ai dit à ce strange conseil de soi-même

• 44:36Dana Schwartz?

  que mon seul crime était de défendre courageusement le bon nom de la mode française depuis le début de la guerre jusqu'au bout de la guerre." Elsa n'a enfin pas été poursuivie. Pour elle-même, elle a décliné de mentionner tout ce qui concerne les FBI dans son mémoire. De là, Schiaparelli a commencé la campagne pour restaurer son bon nom et sa maison d'origine. C'était, malheureusement, un effort inutile. La guerre avait fondamentalement changé l'industrie de mode. C'était la nouvelle look de Christian Dior qui était maintenant dans la mode,

• 45:17Dana Schwartz?

  et Elsa a fondamentalement rejeté le retour de la silhouette corset et petit-cône. En 1954, elle a fermé la "maison de design fortement endettée". Elle a dit au New York Times : "La vie a changé pour les femmes élégantes. Même les gens avec de l'argent ne l'ont pas dépensé comme ils l'avaient fait. Aujourd'hui, seulement une minorité faible de femmes paiera les prix que nous sommes obligés de demander." Le même an où sa maison a été fermée, Elsa a publié sa autobiographie "Life Shocking". Elle gardait sa amitié et son style de vie globale pour le reste de ses jours.

• 46:00Dana Schwartz?

  Mais comme Bettina l'a écrit dans son diariste, "Quand elle a fermé sa magasin, elle a perdu la moitié de soi." Elsa Schiaparelli est mort en novembre 1973 à l'âge de 83. Malgré sa histoire compliquée, Gogo était l'un des quelques participants à sa cérémonie intime. En 1969, seulement quelques années plus tôt, Elsa a donné une collection de 71 pièces au Musée de l'art de Philadelphie. 30 ans après sa mort, ils ont ouvert l'exhibit "Shocking", une rétrospective de carrière qui l'a framingée comme une vraie révolutionnaire de mode.

• 46:46Dana Schwartz?

  C'est notre histoire sur la vie compliquée d' Elsa Schiaparelli. Mais continuez à écouter après une courte pause sponsor pour entendre où est la maison de Schiaparelli aujourd'hui.

• 47:03Dana Schwartz?

  If you know Connor Tomlinson from Netflix's Love on the Spectrum, you know he's one of the most delightful people on television. He's also a serious history nerd. He has a new fun history podcast called What the Fact, co-hosted with Carter Roy from Conspiracy Theories and Murder True Crime Stories. Every week, they take three unbelievable true facts from across history and tell you the story behind them. Carter sets the scene and Connor brings the deep cuts, the hilarious tangents and his infectious love of history. From the worst years to be alive to the women so powerful they started wars,

• 47:47Dana Schwartz?

  Connor and Carter will take you all over the timeline. Every episode will leave you in a better mood and a little smarter. The wildest stuff is real and the real stuff is way wilder than you think. New episodes drop every Wednesday. Follow What the Fact on your favorite podcast app or subscribe on YouTube at What the Fact Pod. You know all those pieces in your closet that you find yourself reaching for over and over again? You know, the sweater that works with every outfit you try on and the jeans that you know will always fit you just right? Or the bag you carry everywhere? Those are the exact pieces that earn a place in your wardrobe. And that's exactly what Quince does so well.

• 48:32Dana Schwartz?

  Quince makes elevated everyday essentials using premium materials like Mongolian cashmere, organic cotton and premium stretch denim. The designs are timeless, thoughtfully crafted, made to be worn again and again. And as the weather gets colder, Quince has everything you need to round out your wardrobe, from warm, responsibly sourced down jackets and cozy cashmere scarves and gloves to beautiful 14 karat jewelry that adds the perfect finishing touch and might make an excellent holiday present. Quince also doesn't just do clothes. My work bag, my leather bag that I bring every day with me to work is from Quince and I absolutely love it.

• 49:15Dana Schwartz?

  It goes with everything I wear and it's just like a classic that makes me feel sophisticated and grown up. And everything at Quince is priced 50 to 80% less than similar brands because they work directly with ethical factories, cutting out the middlemen. So you're paying for quality and not brand markup. Find the fall pieces you will reach for most at quince.com. Download the Quince app for app exclusive offers or go to quince.com. Get free shipping on your order and 365 day returns, now available in Canada and the UK too. And when Quince asks where you heard about them, let them know it was Noble Blood. It is the best way to support this show,

• 50:00Dana Schwartz?

  honestly, because I just want the Quince sponsorship to continue so I can keep buying Quince clothes and products over and over again.

• 50:09Speaker 03

  Hey, I'm Niall Rogers, producer, songwriter, guitarist and co-founder of the group Chic. A great song has a way of defining a moment, a moment of joy, heartbreak, or anything in between. This fall, I'll be driving across the country, dropping in on some of the coolest, most fascinating artists working today. We'll go deep into their lives and careers and hear what it was like before the moment that made them. From hitmakers like Miguel...

• 50:43Speaker 04

  That last year, finishing that record was the hardest experience of my life. Regardless of how everyone else buys into this, I believe in this and I'm gonna push.

• 50:55Speaker 03

  To rising stars like Alex Warren.

• 50:58Speaker 05

  You know, a song is a story and the verse is setting the scene. And for me, at least, it's allowing me to be personal and vulnerable with the audience, whether it's about my wife and I'm being vulnerable about her or it's about my parents and I'm being vulnerable to them. And it's almost like a cinematic piece in a way where each song tells that beautiful story.

• 51:16Speaker 03

  It's gonna be one hell of a trip. Experience Before the Moment, a Lincoln Original Series on the iHeart Radio app, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.

• 51:29Dana Schwartz?

  In 2006, the Scapparelli name was acquired by an Italian luxury goods company. After 60 years of Lang Dormant, Mason Scapparelli relaunched its couture business in 2014. It was in 2019, however, with the appointment of Daniel Rosebery as creative director, that Scapparelli regained its status as the premier avant-garde fashion house. Recently, he designed the dramatic lace ball gown Margot Robbie wore to the premiere of the movie Wuthering Heights, the suit Bad Bunny wore to the Grammys and the skirt suit that Dua Lipa wore to her courthouse wedding.

• 52:12Dana Schwartz?

  As Daniel told Elle Magazine, "I like that Elsa was a challenger and that she had humor. That's what I want to continue." Salvador Dali said, "No one knows how to say Scapparelli, but everyone knows what it means." And that's the sweet spot we're always looking for. As an extra tidbit, listeners who would like visual references for the designs discussed today can head over to the Noble Blood Instagram or Patreon, where our own mini Scapparelli archive has been assembled.

• 52:54Dana Schwartz?

  Noble Blood is a production of iHeart Radio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Manke. Noble Blood is hosted by me, Dana Schwartz. Writers for Noble Blood are Hannah Johnston, Hannah Zwick, Paul Jaffe, Natasha Lasky and me, Dana Schwartz. The show is edited and produced by Jesse Funk and Gomes Griffin with supervising producer Reema Ilkayali and executive producers Aaron Manke, Trevor Young and Matt Frederick. For more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. If you want to learn the wildest facts in history and feel good doing it,

• 53:38Dana Schwartz?

  there's a new podcast called What the Fact from Connor Tomlinson of Netflix's Love on the Spectrum. Every week, Connor and co-host Carter Roy take three unbelievable true facts and tell you the story behind them. Carter sets the scene. Connor brings the hilarious tangents. Every episode leaves you in a better mood and a little smarter. Follow What the Fact on your favorite podcast app for new episodes every Wednesday.

• 54:09Speaker 01

  Hey, what's up? This is Kelvin Washington from The Odd Couple with Rob Parker and Kelvin Washington. Buy smart, drive for less and trade for more. That's Toyota affordability and it starts with a great deal on off-road ready Tacoma or half ton Tundra. Two of Toyota's longest lasting trucks, combining power for work, tech for adventures and style in between. Built on a reputation for quality and reliability, Toyota trucks are known for holding their value, which could mean big savings when it's time for your next Toyota. So get a great deal today and a great value tomorrow. Shop toyota.com for more. Toyota, let's go places.

• 54:46Speaker 06

  Cash flow crunch? OnDeck's small business line of credit gives your business immediate access to funds, up to $200,000, right when you need it. Cover, seasonal dips, manage payroll, restock inventory or tackle unexpected expenses without missing a beat. With flexible draws, transparent pricing and control over repayment, get funded quickly and confidently. Apply today at ondeck.com. Funds could be available as soon as tomorrow. Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by OnDeck or Celtic Bank. OnDeck does not lend in North Dakota. All loans and amounts subject to lender approval.

• 55:16Dana Schwartz?

  This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human.