Which Italian designer introduced the vivid colour 'shocking pink' in 1937?

Elsa Schiaparelli was the Italian designer who introduced the vivid colour “shocking pink” in 1937.

Born in Rome in 1890, Schiaparelli built her fashion house in Paris and became one of the most imaginative designers of the interwar period. She treated colour as a bold artistic tool, using intense pink to reinforce her interest in surprise, theatricality and Surrealism.

The name became especially prominent with her 1937 perfume Shocking. Artist Leonor Fini designed the perfume bottle and packaging, including the striking pink presentation, while the bottle’s torso-like shape evoked the curves of actress Mae West. Schiaparelli also used the colour throughout her clothing and accessories, turning it into a signature shade sometimes called Schiaparelli pink.

The colour’s inspiration is often linked to Daisy Fellowes’s famous Cartier pink diamond, the Tête de Belier, although accounts vary in how directly it influenced Schiaparelli. Another common mix-up is confusing shocking pink with modern “hot pink”: the terms overlap, but the original fashion shade was a saturated magenta associated with Schiaparelli’s 1930s designs.