"This book is published on the occasion of the exhibition ... Philadelphia Museum of Art, September 28, 2003-January 4, 2004"--Title page verso.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

"Elsa Schiaparelli (1890-1973) was the premier style arbiter of the 1930s - a favorite designer of women who made the best-dressed list, of female sports heroes, and of film and theater actresses. This book is the first comprehensive look at the work of this startling and innovative Paris fashion designer." "Shocking! explores the Italian-born designer's career from its modernist beginnings in the 1920s and its connections with Surrealism to the upheavals caused by war, the business struggles in the years that followed, and the closing of her salon in 1954." "With over three hundred reproductions of Schiaparelli clothing and accessories, this book includes the extensive group of objects given by the designer herself to the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1969 as well as contemporary photographs documenting Schiaparelli's salons, homes, and designs: patent office drawings; fashion sketches; works by the period's leading fashion photographers such as Horst and Cecil Beaton; works of art that complemented, influenced, or were influenced by her designs; and stills from many of the American, British, and French films and plays with which she was associated."--Jacket.

SACFinal081324