Jewellery
Schiaparelli's output also included distinctive costume jewellery in a wide range of novelty designs. One of her most directly Surrealist designs was a 1938 Rhodoid (a newly developed clear plastic) necklace studded with coloured metallic insects, giving the illusion that the bugs were crawling directly on the wearer's skin. During the 1930s her jewellery designs were produced by Jean Clemént and Roger Jean-Pierre, who also made up designs for buttons and fasteners. She was also one of the first people to recognise the potential of Jean Schlumberger who she initially employed to create buttons for her in 1936. His jewellery for Schiaparelli, which featured inventive combinations of precious and semi-precious stones proved successful, and at the end of the 1930s, he left to launch his jewellery business in New York. In addition to Schlumberger, Clément and Jean-Pierre, Schiaparelli also offered brooches by Alberto Giacometti, fur-lined metal cuffs by Méret Oppenheim, and pieces by Max Boinet, Lina Baretti, and the writer Elsa Triolet. Compared to her unusual couture 1930s pieces, 1940s and 1950s Schiaparelli jewellery tended to be more abstract or floral-themed.
Read more about this topic: Elsa Schiaparelli