Elsa Schiaparelli has been regarded as Coco Chanel’s greatest rival and one of the most prominent figures in her era of fashion. The Italian fashion designer has again surfaced to limelight as one of her exclusive creations went under the hammer for a whopping $180,000. London based Kerry Taylor Auction House has just sold Zodiac jacket, from Elsa Schiaparelli’s Astrology Winter 1938/39 collection.
Embroidered by founders of Maison Lesage, Albert and Marie-Louise Lesage, the midnight-blue velvet jacket brings the charisma of the whole Universe right in to the closet with embroidered stars, planets and all the 12 zodiac signs. Embellished with gold thread and star-shaped beads, the jacket also glitters with glass shooting stars with embroidered comet tails. Edged with rhinestones and crimped with metal strip, it is also sprinkled with minuscule glass bugle beaded stardust.
Undoubtedly, it is one of the most beautiful of all Schiaparelli’s creations. Wearing the zodiac ensemble, American actress and singer, Marlene Dietrich was photographed in her Beverly Hills residence in 1938. The designer was inspired by the night sky that she used to view as a child through her uncle’s telescope. The lustrous embroidery and pristine condition of the jacket makes it one of the most important and beautiful Schiaparelli garments ever come to the market.
