In the bustling Aberdeenshire town of Braemar, close to the late Queen’s beloved Balmoral, there’s a rather chi-chi hotel called the Fife Arms. Originally a stout stone Victorian building for tweedy country types, it is now a fabulous art-filled mecca of maximalism, attracting celebrities and wealthy Londoners looking for a bit of Highland bling.
There’s a Freud in the lobby, a Picasso in the drawing room, and a winged stag in the dining room, but perhaps most interesting of all, there’s a cocktail bar called Elsa’s, named after Elsa Schiaparelli, the Italian fashion designer. With strong art deco vibes, accents of shocking pink and a menu of exquisite concoctions served in elegant stemmed glasses, Elsa’s has to be the coolest place for a martini north of Edinburgh.
I had heard of Schiaparelli, but the actual woman herself, I knew very little of. And what a woman! Now the V&A’s latest blockbuster exhibition, Schiaparelli: Fashion Becomes Art, brings to life the story of the designer who came to Paris at 23, and gave Coco Chanel a run for her money between the wars.
