Here is a timeline for Elsa Schiaparelli the self taught couturier who invented Shocking Pink whos autobiography has just been republished.

1890 - Elsa Schiaparelli born in Rome. Later refers to herself as Schaip (pronounced Skap)

1914 - Marries a french count, who has an affair with dancer Isadora Duncan. He leaces Elas before their daughter Gogo is born in New York in 1919

1922 - Moves to Paris. Is spotted wearing a black knitted sweater with white bow tie of her own design and gets her first order for 40 of them from America

1927  - opens her first atelier in Paris

1936 - Launches signature perfume, Shocking. The bottle is modeled on client mae Wests Torso.

1936-9 - Collaborates with surrealist artists Dali, Cocteau and Giacometti.

1940 - Flees Paris for America during the war and embarks on a lecture tour, promoting french fashion, and works for the American Red Cross,

1945 - Moves back to Paris

1947 - Becomes a grandmother to Marisa (the actress marisa Berenson) and Berinthis (the photographer "Berry" Berenson who married Anthony Perkins and who died in 2001 aboard one of the World Trade Centre attack planes)

1949 - Opens a store in New York

1954 - Her couture house is declares bankcrupt and she moves to the USA.

1973 - Dies aged 83