41 “In all the years”: Ned Rorem, Knowing When to Stop, p. 539.
42 a couple of cauliflowers: BLUM, p. 244.
43 she did not buy it: PHILA, p. 284.
44 starting to build falsies: memo to Elsa Schiaparelli, BET, p. 80.
45 Edwardian-style full-length capes: BLUM, p. 115.
46 “brought back the frills”: Star, London, April 30, 1955.
47 “going to call it Shocking Pink”: Loïc Allio, Buttons, p. 137.
48 “daring, sometimes glaring”: Women’s Wear Daily, May 1938.
49 “the perfume ran down”: Schiaparelli memo, BET, pp. 68–69.
50 “a classic”: SH, p. 90.
51 in the shape of a telephone: William Wiser, The Twilight Years, p. 148. Dilys Blum, costume curator at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, says this is not true.
52 “Graham White’s yacht”: SH, p. 68.
53 Horne had become chairman: FBI files, October 22, 1942, p. 6.
54 “a daily fight”: Star, April 29, 1953.
55 “like a steel ball”: SH, pp. 88–89.
56 “When a motor car”: Star, April 29, 1953.
57 but Poiret clung: FLA, p. 153.
58 “a high-society look”: Judith Warner, New York Times, September 4, 2011.
59 “she talks faster”: unpublished article, BET, p. 6.
60 setting Schiaparelli on fire: BAL, p. 140.
61 she was … an artist: L’Express, June 8, 1984.
62 she wore it herself: BLUM, p. 162.
63 most widely copied models; bought a sky-blue jacket: BLUM, p. 165.
64 fastened at the waist with a butterfly: BLUM, p. 156.
65 still being revived: in a sales catalogue for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, spring 2013.
66 “Circus performers raced”: PHILA, p. 458.
67 the identical embroidered bolero: François Lesage, Hommage à Schiaparelli, Musée de la Mode et du Costume, Paris, 1984, p. 114.
68 “between the legs of elephants”: SH, p. 101.
69 marching down the front: BLUM, p. 105.
70 wine-colored silk velvet: BLUM, p. 166.
71 amazing harlequin coat: That miracle of invention is among the prized items in the Schiaparelli collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
72 a badge of honor: BLUM, pp. 186, 188.
73 “I learned years later”: SH, p. 98.
74 “And I was trembling”: Architectural Digest, October 1994.
75 to make a bomb: Bureau of Investigation report, May 3, 1919.
76 too easy for pickpockets: SH, p. 85.
77 It was a caricature: BLUM, pp. 92–93; SH, pp. 78–87.
CHAPTER 9 • SCANDALOUS SCHIAP
1 “the tacit secrecy”: Janet Flanner, “Comet,” New Yorker, June 18, 1932.
2 “She was terribly angry”: Hommage à Schiaparelli, Musée de la Mode et du Costume, 1984, p. 125.
3 “We had to change”: Ibid., p. 131.
4 “She was like an orchestral conductor”: Ibid.
5 “Don’t worry about it”: Hommage, p. 136.
6 a mile-high skyscraper: Meryle Secrest, Frank Lloyd Wright, p. 532.
7 “the grace with which”: Luigi Barzini, The Italians, p. 80.
8 “credibility and good taste”: Ibid.
9 “a mine-field”: Ibid., p. 113.
10 echoed Napoleon’s mother: Barzini, p. 114.
11 “territorial ambition”: Alan Riding, And the Show Went On, p. 26.
12 “ ‘Death to Jews’ ”: article on Leon Blum, BET, unpaginated.
13 “The fantastic rise”: SH, p. 75.
14 she was a member: report to de Gaulle, January 20, 1945.
15 had never taken part in politics: SH, p. 75.
16 “hypnotized like rabbits”: Noel Annan, Our Age, p. 198.
17 “all we can do”: Kenneth Clark, The Other Half, p. 19.
18 the subtle aroma of Shocking: BET archive.
19 Aux Ambassadeurs: Women’s Wear Daily, June 15, 1937.
20 no less than six: BET archive.
21 “which wearer displayed”: BLUM, p. 84.
22 Bettina asked Elsa: in 1952; BET archive.
23 wept tears of boredom: BET archive, pp. 67–81.
24 continual astonishment: Dominique Veillon, Fashion Under the Occupation, p. 4.
25 a “smoking glove”: Vogue, June 15, 1939, pp. 30–31.
26 her Jubilee hat: Ibid.
27 “ ‘a fit’ of prosperity”: quoted in BLUM, p. 221.
28 determinedly silly knot: BLUM, p. 227.
29 “Couturiers are reviving”: New Yorker, August 19, 1939.
30 “magnificent costume balls”: FLA, p. 220.
31 “scrambled together”: BAL, p. 77.
32 wearing a white Chinese robe: BLUM, p. 82.
33 Schiaparelli … on a pedestal: BLUM, p. 83.
34 jeweled harnesses: Vogue, August 15, 1939.
35 “perfectly in order”: Vogue, August 15, 1939.
36 some exquisite reproductions: Ibid.
37 “Herded into the house”: BAL, p. 82.
38 nobody knew who she was: SH, p. 101.
39 “The rich were”: Loelia, Duchess of Westminster, Grace and Favour, p. 99.
40 a model of dapper elegance: Ibid., facing p. 160.
41 “never had much money”: Manchester Guardian, August 3, 1940.
42 her new “cigarette” silhouette: BLUM, p. 221.
43 “my London years”: SH, p. 100.
44 “With memories”: Riding, p. 33.
45 “The aeroplane flew”: SH, p. 104.
46 “We went round town”: SH, p. 105.
47 They were everywhere: New York Journal American, June 12, 1940.
48 “the torture of the wounded”: Ibid.
49 the regulation powder puff: BLUM, p. 228.
50 lined in violet flannel: Veillon, p. 9.
51 her personal pair: BLUM, p. 231.
52 a built-in strap: BLUM, p. 236.
53 an impromptu muff: BLUM, p. 237.
54 full regalia: BLUM, p. 240.
55 in fighting form: BLUM, p. 241.
56 already in demand: New York Times, December 20, 1939.
57 “a Meccano set”: LIEB, p. 191.
58 “the most comfortable”: SH, p. 105.
59 waiting to escape: LIEB, p. 166.
60 “an arched veranda”: Manchester Guardian, August 3, 1940.
61 “The train passed”: LIEB, pp. 32–35.
62 “trim, chic and smiling”: Christian Science Monitor, March 1, 1940.
63 extra nooks and crannies: Ibid.
64 life flowed on: Western Morning News, March 20, 1940.
65 “an Elizabethan theater”: LIEB, p. 105.
66 “People stared uneasily”: LIEB, p. 106.
67 “the most highly”: LIEB, p. 112.
68 two machine-gun bullets: New York Journal and American, June 12, 1940.
69 “nothing more romantic”: Ibid.
70 “copies of the trousseau”: Women’s Wear Daily, December 18, 1940.
71 sedate and discreet: Vogue, April 1, 1941.
72 “the clients had gone”: Vogue, September 1, 1940.
73 “The last impression”: LIEB, p. 146.
74 “cars stood still”: LIEB, p. 147.
75 “like the passage”: quoted in Humanities, July/August 2012, p. 30.
76 “like silent sentinels”: SH, p. 108.
77 “As they passed”: Riding, p. 43.
78 “When the capitulation”: Vogue, September 1, 1940.
79 “I knew the man well”: SH, p. 110.
80 “In the little restaurants”: Vogue, October 1, 1940.
81 So many refugees: SH, p. 111.
82 “I never ceased”: SH, pp. 102–11.
83 “In a rococo way”: Vogue, October 1, 1940.
84 something like a month: Ibid.
85 outside the danger zone: William Shirer, Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, pp. 785–92.
86 he committed suicide: at 168 East Sixty-third Street, on March 8, 1941.
87 a menacing summer: Vogue, October 1, 1940.
88 The ambassador promptly left: Boston Globe, July 21, 1940.
89 at least she was alive: BLUM, p. 223.
CHAPTER 10 • THE “COLLABO”
1 “Queen of French spas”: Irene Nemirovsky, Suite Française, p. 148.
2 Bettina was skiing: BET archive. Schiaparelli arrived on December 6, 1940.
3 a transcript of the speech: FBI files.
4 wear a complete wardrobe: New York Times, September 24, 1940.
5 “the best pro-French propaganda”: BET archive.
6 a new German look: Bettina Bergery did not meet Schiaparelli in Paris.
7 “It stays in Paris”: Alan Riding, And the Show Went On, p. 103.
8 a young fashion designer: Ibid.
9 “my very dearest friends”: SH, p. 117.
10 “the notorious Otto Abetz”: William Shirer, Berlin Diary, p. 449.
11 “King Otto I”: Ibid.
12 she quietly changed seats: Irene Guenther, Nazi Chic: Fashioning Women in the Third Reich, p. 210.
13 “a great personal friend”: Office of Strategic Services, August 5, 1943.
14 “under neutral diplomatic protection”: SH, p. 120.
15 “well worth while”: SH, p. 120.
16 “The Satans were still standing”: BET archive.
17 “open-mouthed in admiration”: BET diary, April 1941.
18 her mother was jealous: Harper’s Bazaar, August 1993.
20 “To survive”: BEE, p. 79.
21 “rather on the spot”: SH, pp. 121–22.
22 “by now fully aware”: SH, p. 124.
23 bank accounts frozen: BLUM, p. 224.
24 “the darkest moments”: Alistair Horne, Seven Ages of Paris, p. 364.
25 little or no gasoline: Vogue, November 15, 1940.
26 “at ease in … the extreme right”: confidential report to De Gaulle, January 20, 1945.
27 Adding insult to injury: FBI report, January 8, 1942, and memorandum, July 23, 1942.
28 “it was impossible”: FBI report, January 8, 1942; memorandum, July 23, 1942.
29 Grégoire … was apprehended: FBI sources.
30 “one of the most active”: OSS report, August 5, 1943.
31 “a dangerous enemy alien”: FBI files, August 7, 1942.
32 “She brazenly sails”: Walter Winchell, New York Daily Mirror, June 12, 1940.
33 offered her big money: FBI, October 30, 1941.
34 with apparent good humor: FBI, September 28, 1940.
35 “There is going to be”: FBI, October 14, 1940.
36 “an espionage system”: FBI, July 18, 1941.
37 “a rather ginny Edith”: HOR, p. 73.
38 a tiny two-bedroom row house: HOR, pp. 207–208.
39 using his diplomatic mail: FBI files, July 28, 1941.
40 due to expire: on August 28, 1941.
41 departure had been “sudden”: BET, p. 16, May 13, 1941.
42 including a train wreck: Mary Thacher summary, undated.
43 “more or less shut out”: Diane Labrosse, “Gaston Bergery and the Political Composition of the Early Vichy State.”
44 stationed in Ankara: from 1942 to 1944.
45 only a few days left: SH, p. 122.
46 “a beau of mine”: Ibid.
47 “So it was up to me”: Ibid.
48 “the only time”: Ibid.
49 “a permit to leave”: SH, p. 123.
50 “He saw me safely”: Ibid.
51 He obtained her Portuguese visa: SH, p. 124; FBI files, “T-6,” October 22, 1942.
52 “Prices on all foods”: New York Times, May 26, 1941.
53 Time would tell: Ibid.
54 she could not divulge: SH, p. 124.
55 true friends did not ask: Ibid.
56 proceeds … were blocked: Lynn H. Nicholas, The Rape of Europa, pp. 93–94.
57 “to rediscover myself”: SH, p. 128.
58 “My conscience”: SH, p. 129.
59 she had an office: FBI, January 8, 1942.
60 “For unless she had been”: SH, p. 131.
61 and that was flourishing: FBI, January 8, 1942.
62 “to change my mood”: SH, p. 129.
63 “no idea what”: FBI report, January 8, 1942.
64 “A German naval force”: William Shirer, Berlin Diary, p. 594.
65 “Because of her German”: Sheilah Graham, North American Newspaper Alliance, November 13, 1941.
66 “while in South America”: FBI, January 15, 1942.
67 was under investigation: FBI files, December 21, 1941.
68 “he found Madame Schiaparelli”: FBI, January 15, 1942.
69 vulnerable to pressures: FBI, July 23, 1942.
70 how she could possibly: Ibid.
CHAPTER 11 • WEARING TWO HATS
1 thin slices of wood: Alan Riding, And the Show Went On, pp. 105–106.
2 “part of the Resistance”: BEE, p. 250.
3 “most valuable possessions,” “the whole country has made”: Dominique Veillon, Fashion Under the Occupation, pp. 94, 89.
4 “not a sympathetic person”: FBI files, “T-4,” July 23, 1942.
5 “definitely on the Left”: FBI files, “T-6,” July 23, 1942.
6 “what have you done?”: SH, p. 108.
7 “formerly South American firms”: FBI files, “T-6,” July 23, 1942.
8 The British succeeded: FBI files. The U.S. Treasury froze the relevant bank accounts on November 27, 1941, and lifted the freeze on January 30, 1943.
9 “café society gossip”: FBI files, August 27, 1942, and October 22, 1942.
10 “so much closer to home”: Washington Post, July 29, 1943.
11 “the London company’s … stock”: Office of Censorship memorandum, FBI files, August 3, 1944.
12 that she not come back: FBI files, February 18, 1943.
13 managed to plead her case: Ministry of Economic Warfare, UK, February 13, 1943.
14 a staff of women nurses: Ibid., August 13, 1943.
15 “not the true reason”: SH, p. 149.
16 “demanded to go”: Ibid.
17 absolutely not: Ibid.
18 “they left me alone”: SH, p. 150.
19 and then decorated: New York Times, February 3, 1965.
20 “a tiny being”: SH, p. 145.
22 “a man out of me”: Vogue, September 1, 1944.
23 “short curly hair”: SH, p. 145.
24 “visibly aged”: HOR, p. 307.
25 “I still wonder”: HOR, p. 77.
26 “It is clear”: Ministry of Economic Warfare, UK, October 21, 1944.
27 “I felt disembodied”: SH, p. 151.
28 “buy a ticket”: Ibid.
29 he had not noticed: letter, June 23, 1944.
30 “If they did not”: BEE, p. 41.
31 “On the warmest”: BEE, p. 27.
32 “his decision”: BEE, p. 45.
33 “dissolved in tears”: JON, p. 495.
34 lost their lives: BEE, p. 52.
35 Her precious possessions: American Journal, p. 151.
36 importance of the scoop: Penelope Rowlands, A Dash of Daring, p. 302.
37 “The population of Paris”: Ibid., p. 306.
38 “all laughing, flirting”: Ibid., p. 319.
39 “a walking Christmas tree”: Leonora Ross, Boston Globe, July 4, 1945.
40 “Everyone from”: Vogue, November 1, 1945.
41 “but many of the little workers”: Vogue, November 1, 1945.
42 waiting to be rescued: Marie-Laure de Noailles to Bettina Bergery, BET, January 31, 1945.
43 “France had witnessed”: BEE, p. 79.
44 De Gaulle wanted a report: March 5, 1945.
45 “boldly defended the good
name”: SH, p. 154.
46 “directly exploitable”: Dominique Veillon, Fashion Under the Occupation, p. 143.
47 She was home free: Ibid., pp. 142–143.
48 “My heart is French”: Riding, p. 334.
49 was accused of betraying: BEE, p. 78.
50 “jiggle their bare breasts”: BEE, p. 85.
51 “Patriots who had”: BEE, p. 63.
52 “L’Humanité did all it could”: BEE, p. 59.
53 had done nothing: BEE, p. 163.
54 a warrant had already been issued: on October 25, 1945.
55 “Gaston is put”: letter, Thacher file, November 11, 1945.
56 offering to put himself: Bergery papers.
57 condemned to death: August, 1945.
58 already been executed: on October 10, 1945.
59 a handwritten note: June 21, 19—.
60 consistently affectionate: Correspondence, BET archive.
61 “That lurid melodrama …”: BET archive, no date.
CHAPTER 12 • PICKING UP THE ARROW
1 “took only two hundred”: BEE, p. 251.
2 the skin of its teeth: Kenneth Clark, Civilisation, p. 1.
3 “We must remember”: MODE, pp. 20–21.
4 “the vitality of French”: BEE, p. 251.
5 “Who could refuse”: MODE, p. 24.
6 to the proper scale: MODE, p. 44.
7 “For a dress”: Ibid.
8 “plying a needle”: Ibid.
9 the burst of creativity: BEE, p. 252.
10 “one we will always”: MODE, p. 22.
11 something lingered: MODE, p. 90.
12 “crowded to see”: MODE, p. 18.
13 “Within a week”: Washington Post, March 25, 1948.
14 a live canary: Chicago Daily Tribune, December 10, 1948.
15 Regency dandies: New York Times, September 14, 1945.
16 as if a bowler hat: Vogue, October 15, 1946.
17 straw boaters: BLUM, p. 263.
18 “She is back”: Vogue, October 15, 1946.
19 “the lacy fringes”: New Yorker, February 11/18, 2013.
20 “ever the artistic”: Fashion and Surrealism, p. 17.
21 “pick up the arrow”: SH, p. 156.
22 look … like Parisians: SH, p. 165.
23 “practical yet dignified”: SH, p. 159.
24 “almost desperate shyness”: BEE, p. 256.
25 “a balding bachelor”: Stanley Karnow, Paris in the Fifties, p. 261.
26 “some people attempted”: BEE, p. 256.
27 “so agitated”: BEE, p. 256.
28 “a more settled”: LAV, p. 256.