Hysteria: Schiaparelli and Madness

Written by Emily Poncia

Surrealism loved insanity.

Freudian psychology drew a distinction between the conscious and subconscious mind, a differentiation which was a cornerstone of the Surrealist movement. The work of Salvador Dalí, a ubiquitous surrealist artist, contained many depictions of what Sigmund Freud considered to be ‘fetish objects’, and the erotic subconscious was a prominent underlying theme to Surrealist work. The complex and nonsensical artworks sought to expose the sub-conscious mind: ‘the authentic voice of the inner self’.[1] Surrealists believed that the curing of madness was a wrongful attempt to conform to conscious normality and that the insane mind created its reality and was content.

‘Hysteria’, a specifically female brand of madness, became de rigour in this psychoanalysis-crazed zeitgeist. The concept of ‘hysteria’ was not new in the 20th century. The term was coined by Hippocrates in the 5th century BC, derived from the Ancient Greek word for uterus: hysteron.[2] Manifesting throughout the Middle Ages as both a medical condition, and a spiritual deficiency, ‘hysteria’ was cited as the cause of such wide-ranging issues as the Salem Witch trials, and infertility. However, the Surrealists latched onto Freud’s novel understanding of ‘hysteria’ developing because of frustration linked to the Oedipal complex, recasting ‘hysteria’ as a result of shocking Freudian revelations of perverse sexuality.[3]

Women diagnosed with this disease were therefore objects of sexual fascination. Images of scantily-clad ‘hysterics’ in contorted positions became both evidence of the sub-conscious mind and erotica which played into established notions of the female mind as weaker and susceptible to ailments. This fascination with a gendered model of madness which rendered women vulnerable was often explored in Surrealist art.

Surrealist artist and fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli’s practice wove together hysteria with an intuitive understanding of the subjection of the female body to scrutiny, creating a version of hysteria which gave women much more agency than the sexualised works of other Surrealists. Through creating clothing which played on the idea of the insane, Schiaparelli gave women control over their characterisation; to be seen as mad became a choice, rather than a gendered predisposition. Women’s bodies became the canvas to show off insane artworks, rather than their subject.

Moreover, Schiaparelli explored her understanding of her mind through the clothing which she created. Forming the alternative persona of ‘Schiap’, Schiaparelli spoke of a fragmentation of herself: ‘I merely know Schiap by hearsay. I’ve only seen her in a mirror. She is, for me, some kind of fifth dimension.[4] Her understanding of herself as at once actor, spectator, and narrator betrayed an understanding which paralleled the Surrealist model of the contradictory conscious and sub-conscious minds. And yet this fragmented self which Schiaparelli described did not expose her to vulnerability. Rather, Schiap was a figure through which she exercised her creative energy; her boutique in the Place Vendome in Paris was dubbed the ‘Schiap Shop’. Moreover, the bottle of her fragrance ‘Shocking’ was modelled on the bust of Mae West, a celebrity sex icon of the era. Rather than being put directly on display, the perfume was housed in an opaque fuchsia box away from prying eyes. Through the colour which came to be known as ‘Shocking Pink’, Schiaparelli laid bare society and Surrealism’s fascination with the female body through the other extreme of hiding it away.

In her clothing, Schiaparelli’s ‘hysteria’ manifested in making apparent what was not there: her original Trompe l’Oiele jumpers gave the wearer a pierced heart or large bow tie. The 'Bow Knot’ sweater featured in the Christmas Edition of Vogue 1928 initially blew Elsa Schiaparelli into the public eye. Vogue has dubbed the technique used to create this effect ‘frottage’, playing on the word’s sexual connotations, which although never explicitly commented on by Schiaparelli, again link the sensuality of the female body to the absurd and surreal.[5]

In her later career, madness manifested itself through Schiaparelli’s accessories. Jean Clement visualised Schiaparelli’s surreal designs for jewellery and accoutrements such as buttons. A necklace of metal bugs suspended in rhodoid plastic from the 1938 Autumn Couture collection, as well as clasps styled like lobsters, were a direct reference to the Surrealists’ use of the natural world.[6] In particular, the lobster motif was used extensively and eroticised by Dalí, coming to form the central motif on a dress from Schiaparelli’s Summer 1937 collection. Again, madness and female sexuality are married; a bright red lobster hovers over the genitalia of the wearer, a reference to Dalí’s Minotaur sculpture which gave voice to the shameful basal urges of the subconscious.

‘Everything which works at Schiaparelli works when the New World starts talking to the Old World and the Old World answers back’ - Daniel Roseberry

Since becoming Creative Director of the fashion house in 2019, Daniel Roseberry has invigorated Schiaparelli with the Surrealist madness and bold female sensuality of its namesake particularly poignant on the centenary of Surrealism’s original manifesto by André Breton in 1924.

Despite having previously avoided the lobster as too obvious a reference to the Surrealist origins of the house, Roseberry’s SS24 collection featured imaginative uses of the motif. In a monochrome cream look, a shirt with long sleeves and dramatic cuffs is tucked into a gathered skirt. The gathers are arranged in such a way that it appears as though the large cream lobster, positioned over the crotch, has climbed up the model’s body; Harper’s Bazaar described it as though the lobster is on the brink of exposing the model’s pants.[7]

This look is clearly sensual.

The model’s feminine curves are emphasised by the skin’s gathering as was repeating Elsa Schiaparelli’s eroticised lobster and positioning it over the erogenous zone. The shirt is roomy, and the top is left open, highlighting the model’s décolletage and portraying effortless sexuality. This highly feminine, highly powerful, and yet entirely mad model of the Schiaparelli woman has been a theme of Roseberry’s tenure with the brand. His SS22 Haute Couture collection was built around the concept of a space goddess, featuring highly sculptural uses of the metal wound into otherworldly shapes. Everyone saw the metal lungs he created, these were accompanied by such items as golden gloves which glittered and snaked their way up the model’s arms, and patent black shoes with golden toenails crowning their ends.

Roseberry has taken the hysteria which fed into the original Surrealist conception of the subconscious mind and brought it into the 21st century in the form of glistening yet absurd visions of femininity. 2024’s Schiaparelli is ‘freaky and weird and sexy’ in the same way as its 1927 counterpart, representing the importance of hysteria in establishing, and continuing, the brand’s identity.

References:

1] Watt, Judith. Vogue on: Elsa Schiaparelli (2012), (London: Quadrille Publishing Limited), 21.

[2] Tasca. Cecilia, Mariangela Rapetti, Mauro Giovannie Carta, and Bianca Fadda. “Women and Hysteria in the History of Mental Health.” Clinical practice and epidemiology in metal health 8, no. 1 (2012): 111.

[3] Ibid., 115.

[4] Dieffenbacher, Fiona. “ ‘Shocking!’ The Surreal World of Elsa Schiaparelli. Musée Des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, France, July 22, 2022 – Januart 3rd 2023.” Fashion Theory 27, no. 6 (2023): 889 – 900.

[5] Vogue on: Elsa Schiaparelli.

[6] Vogue on: Elsa Schiaparelli.

[7] Gonzalez, T. “Schiaparelli’s Lobster Skirt is a Real Fashion Delicacy.” Harper’s Bazaar. September 29, 2023. https://www.harpersbazaar.com/fashion/fashion-week/a4539571/schiaparelli-spring-2024-lobster-dress/.