Black Women's Coat with Belt

Elsa Schiaparelli left Paris in 1941 after the German occupation of France and, to protect the jobs of her employees, asked Irène Dana to continue the enterprise. Schiaparelli returned in 1945. It is likely that this coat, photographed in a slightly different, furlined version by photographer Lee Miller for British Vogue in 1944 directly after Americans freed Paris, was designed by Irène Dana for Schiaparelli. It displays a short shawl collar and swings bell-like toward the hemline and back. The wide raglan sleeves have remarkable ray-shaped darts in the front and back and beneath these sit diagonal patch chest pockets with rounded flaps. Roundslit pockets are incorporated in the curved seams of the front at hip level. The coat is worn with a belt and is fixed with two tie ribbons on the interior. It is fully lined with heavy rayon satin.