The Coronavirus pandemic has suspended our lives, locking us in our houses, making us lose the natural rhythms of our bodies and confusing our minds (hands up who feels we are stuck in a perpetual kind of Sunday...). And while we also seem to be tired, lazy and narcoleptic, we find it hard to sleep because of anxieties and fears. Fashion history can maybe help us falling asleep? Let's see.
In the Summer of 1940 Elsa Schiaparelli created a perfume called "Sleeping": the bottle represented a candle and the packaging a conical snuffer reminiscent of the candle burning in the head of the Harlequin figure in Man Ray's 1939 painting, "Le Beaux Temps".
The fragrance was a night perfume: you could use it indeed before going to bed as its scent was meant to inspire the subconscious and induce ecstasy, as shown by the adverts illustrated by Marcel Vertès.
The turquoise blue packaging was directly linked to the colour of the Summer 1940 collection - Sleeping blue. Schiap's Sleeping blue silk crepe beaded bolero jacket (from the collection of Hamish Bowles) is currently part of the exhibition "Ballerina: Fashion's Modern Muse" at the The Museum at FIT. Like all other museums and cutural institutions across the world, the museum is closed, but the exhibition can be explored online on a dedicated site. Enjoy the exhibition or try to have a good and restoring sleeping.
Comments