Elsa Peretti There will never be another Elsa

Brazen, headstrong and futuristic, Elsa Peretti is a cultural icon. Making simple, ordinary symbols and patterns extraordinary, into something of a cult, was Peretti’s modus operandi. Much like many designers, her approach to design was not built on the rarity or preciousness of raw materials, but on the intrinsic, raw beauty of art and its veritable faculties says Vijetha Rangabashyam

- Vijetha Rangabashyam

Little Elsa would visit a 17th-Century Capuchin church with her nanny. The seed for the inspiration behind her iconic Bone Cuff was sown here, from the human bones that she would stealthily bring back in her little purse from the church. The Bone Cuff was a cult, worn by the likes of Grace Jones, Liza Minnelli, and more recently, Rachel Weisz and Naomi Watts. Peretti took the simplest of things and made them into objects of desire. Women resonated with what she created, as surreal, minimalist and clean they were.

Born in Florence, the Mecca of Renaissance, to an aristocrat, Peretti studied in Rome and Switzerland. At the age of 21, she wrote a letter to her father, declaring her independence, stating that she is an adult and free, and wants to live a life on her own. Her father cut her off financially, and without a penny in her pocket, she left Rome for Barcelona.

Adding to her keen eye for art, her raw magnetism and unabashed beauty played a pivotal role in her becoming acquainted with Salvador Dali, who shaped her aesthetic to a large extent. In the late 60s, she moved to Manhattan to further her career in modeling, being very well aware of the fact that she would do it just to pay bills. Her interest still very much lied in creating objects of desire.