Elsa Schiaparelli did not approach fashion like other designers of her era. She never considered herself a dressmaker, but instead saw herself as an artist working in the medium of fabric. She once said that “working with artists like Bébé Bérard, Jean Cocteau, Salvador Dali, Vertes, Van Dongen and with photographers like Hoyningen Huene, Horst, Cecil Beaton, and Man Ray gave one a sense of exhilaration. One felt supported and understood beyond the crude and boring reality of merely making a dress to sell.”
This was particularly true of her 1937 and 1938 collections, which dazzled with inspirations like her famous “Lobster Dress,” a white silk organza dinner dress that serves as the canvas for a Dali-painted crustacean and a black jersey coat with silk tucked roses featuring Jean Cocteau's double-image chalice.
Spend an evening with historian and curator Elizabeth Lay as she examines Schiaparelli’s designs in the context of the subversive art and photography of the period. Both Schiaparelli and the surrealists were experimenting in new materials and a new artistic expression as Europe moved closer and closer to war.
World Art History Certificate elective: Earn 1/2 credit*
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*Enrolled participants in the World Art History Certificate Program receive 1/2 elective credit. Not yet enrolled? Learn about the program, its benefits, and how to register here.
