FASHION Magazine

Even in today’s highly experimental fashion arena, it seems like a fantasy that a shoe-shaped hat could ever be considered high fashion. That, however, was the fantastical world of Elsa Schiaparelli. A true original, “Schiap” was a dominant fashion force in the ’30s and ’40s, and was hailed as a genius by her contemporaries (a 1934 Time article listed her as even more influential than rival Coco Chanel). Best known for pioneering a sense of playfulness and whimsy in fashion, the Italian-born designer captured the time’s Surrealist zeitgeist in collaborations with artists Salvador Dalí and Jean Cocteau.