At the Victoria and Albert Museum
@vamuseum Schiaparelli: Fashion Becomes Art opens this Saturday 28th - a fashion retrospective that is a dazzling, astonishing, witty, plunges into the subconscious of 20th-century couture. This long awaited exhibition - the first major UK show devoted to Elsa Schiaparelli shows persuasively that her work belongs as much in the realm of art as in fashion and is proof that Schiaparelli’s world, nearly a century on, still feels radically alive.The curatorial strength lies in its breadth. With over 200 objects spanning couture, jewellery, perfume, artworks and archival material, the exhibition situates Schiaparelli within a broader creative network rather than isolating her as a lone genius. This approach is particularly effective in demonstrating how deeply embedded she was in avant-garde culture, and how deliberately she blurred the boundary between clothes and art. There are too many highlights to mention. The “Skeleton Dress” and famous “Lobster Dress,” created with Dalí, remain as startling as ever, the “Circus” jacket, acrobat buttons, stunning embroidery and beading is everywhere as are the clever folds of jackets , compacts like telephone dials , hats and always hidden puns behind her work, it all still feels aggressively modern. The show resists becoming a static archive by including contemporary designs from creative director
@danielroseberry , including well known celebrity-worn pieces, the exhibition draws a compelling line from Schiaparelli’s interwar pieces to today’s fashion culture. The exhibition succeeds because it doesn’t attempt to tame Schiaparelli’s eccentricity. Instead, it leans into it. The experience is intentionally disorienting, playful, and excessive.
A great show - You definitely need to visit more than once as the density of objects can overwhelm but even that feels appropriate, Schiaparelli thrived on contradiction and excess… thank you for the preview
#v&a #schiaparelli #schiaparellifashionbecomesart
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