Shocking Life

Elsa Schiaparelli.

E. P. Dutton & Co. New York. 1954. First edition. Hardback, octavo; black cloth-bound boards, with pink titles to cover and spine, shocking pink dust jacket. 255 pages. Frontispiece, 16 b&w and 3 colour hors-texte plates, tail-piece line drawings. English. 215 x 150mm. 0.55kg. . Good, in fair dust jacket; wear to edges of jacket with some light loss, the lower edge of the rear panel has at some point adhered to the board affecting a small area, now seperated but with some loss and remnants of paper to board, not price-clipped; bookseller's price stamp to front endpaper.

'Rome, Paris, New York, London, Moscow, Dublin, Hollywood, Bahia, royalty, politicians, artists, models, authors, film stars, social beauties, industrial magnates, land- and sea-scapes of sunshine and dreams - and her private family and friends - such is the kaleidoscope of her pages under the glittering searchlight of her incisive memory.'

With her own inimitable style, Elsa Schiaparelli provides an honest autobiography of her life and career. The book takes the reader into the heart of Schiaparelli's fashion house and introduces the many characters she lived amongst, including Lady Mendl, Greta Garbo, Gloria Swanson, Joan Crawford, the Duchess of Windsor, Picasso, Berard, Dali, Anita Loos, Katherine Hepburn, and many more. The striking dust jacket is emblazoned with Schiaparelli's trademark Shocking Pink.