Couverture / Jaquette

Beauty . . . 

                     Color . . .

                                    Doubts . . . 

As a little girl in Rome, Elsa Schiaparelli was told she was not pretty. What is beauty? Elsa wondered as she grew older. So she sought out beauty around her and found it everywhere: in the colors and scents of the Rome flower market, in the garden, and in the attic of her family home, buried in a chest of old dresses. She found affection from her dear uncle in Milano.

“Voliamo,” said Uncle Giovanni.

“Let’s fly!” 

And Elsa did fly! “Schiap,” as she later called herself, developed an artist’s eye and imagination. These bloomed in the wildly imaginative dresses, hats, shoes, and jewelry that made her an important name in fashion. Defining beauty on her own creative and rebellious terms was the key to Elsa Schiaparelli’s happiness and success—and is still seen today in her legacy of wild imagination. Daring and different, Elsa Schiaparelli used art to make fashion, and it was quite marvelous.

Note biographique

Kyo Maclear is the author of many books for children, including Bloom: A Story of Fashion Designer Elsa Schiaparelli, and some for adults. When she was a little girl, she wanted very badly to be a fashion designer. She spent countless hours drawing odd dresses, including a very special cloud dress. Her style muses include her mother, Patti Smith, the residents of Moominvalley, and anyone with a sense of casual and androgynous flair. Though she loved writing about Schiaparelli’s signature color, shocking pink, Kyo’s own favorite color is blue. She plants her garden with flowers in all shades of blue, and in spring when they bloom, it’s a blue extravaganza. Kyo makes her home in Toronto, where she lives with her two sons and husband, a musician. You can find her at www.kyomaclearkids.com.

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