Jacket

Elsa Schiaparelli|House of Schiaparelli

summer 1937 · leather, plastic (cellulose nitrate) · Costume Institute

The Duchess of Windsor, then Mrs. Simpson, wore a model of this jacket in a photograph taken by Cecil Beaton at the Château de Candé. With its appliquéd baroque decoration, it epitomizes the Duchess's witty, playful sense of style. The Duchess was at her most elegant in smart, impeccably tailored suits, a look that Cecil Beaton referred to as her "trim messenger-boy's suits." This particular jacket bears the original basting stitches establishing the grain-lines of the sleeve and back of the jacket. As it would have been rare for an unfinished garment to have been given to a client, it is likely that the client may have planned and insisted upon alterations outside the house of Schiaparelli.

Artist

Elsa Schiaparelli|House of Schiaparelli

Date

summer 1937

Medium

leather, plastic (cellulose nitrate)

Culture

French

Department

Costume Institute

Credit line

Gift of Mrs. J.R. Keagy, 1974