#2306 $450
Schiaparelli flowered taffeta shoes, 1960s
After 1951 Schiaparelli discontinued her couture business and limited her designs to accessories. Aided by a talented design team, she continued to turn out witty, "fun loving" creations. (She considered that phrase a bit pretentious.)
The shoes exhibit the marriage of the exuberant, outrageous Schiaparelli style with the emerging youth culture of the 1960s. She was renowned for her skill in juxtaposing diverse shapes, colors, and textures. In the shoes, the color combination is joyful and playful. I adore the square toes and perky bows.
The uppers and heels are covered with boldly flowered taffeta. The soles and heels are leather. One shoe is labeled "Schiaparelli/Paris/New York" while the other is marked "Hofheimer's Designer Footwear."
I can see these shoes on a gay and original woman, who can wear her clothes with a certain amusement. She gives them a vivacity that takes one back to the delights of the most impressionable moments of childhood.
Elsa Schiaparelli's most important contribution to fashion was her playful sense of "anything goes" derived from the Surrealists. (She worked closely with Salvador Dali). In 1934 Time Magazine described Chanel as less influential than Schiaparelli, one of "a handful of houses now at the peak of their power as arbiters of the ultra-modern haute couture....Madder and more original than most of her contemporaries, Mme. Schiaparelli is the one to whom the word 'genius' is applied most often."
The condition is excellent. The uppers are perfect; the soles are mildly scuffed.
The size is marked "6 1/2 medium".
