V&A celebrates the legacy of Elsa Schiaparelli with new exhibition

While Elsa Schiaparelli’s name might not be as recognisable as Coco Chanel or Christian Dior, who have been the focus of previous V&A exhibitions, her influence on fashion and couture is just as pronounced, and the new exhibit in London traces the origins of Maison Schiaparelli and how it became a fashion disruptor by drawing inspiration from art, design and performance.

‘Schiaparelli: Fashion Becomes Art’ runs from March 28 to November 8, and features more than 400 objects, including 100 ensembles and 50 artworks, as well as accessories, jewellery, paintings, photographs, furniture, perfumes and archive material. Items on display include pieces from the V&A archive, alongside loans from institutes like the Philadelphia Museum of Art, private collectors, and the house of Schiaparelli, with key pieces needing to undergo extensive work by the V&A’s conservation team.

The exhibition has been put together by curators Sonnet Stanfill, Lydia Caston and Rosalind McKever, in close collaboration with Maison Schiaparelli, and spans from the 1920s to the present day, and places Elsa Schiaparelli’s first, paradigm-shifting garments, alongside present-day incarnations designed by the house’s current creative director, Daniel Roseberry.

Highlights on display include the 1938 Skeleton dress, the only known surviving example, which is part of the V&A’s permanent collection, as well as the 1938 Tears dress, along with a hat resembling an upside-down shoe, all conceived in collaboration with artist Salvador Dalí. These sit alongside artworks by Pablo Picasso, Jean Cocteau, Man Ray and Eileen Agar, as well as several of Schiaparelli’s designs for film and theatre productions, while looks worn by celebrities Ariana Grande and Dua Lipa, designed by Roseberry, bring the exhibition to a dramatic close.

Tristram Hunt, director of the V&A, said at the press preview: “Schiaparelli, no one knows how to say it, but everyone knows what it means, she was a designer and the artist who was raised amongst books, astronomy, philosophy and myth, and would go on to build a French fashion house that treated dress as an arena for ideas.

“In her own words, dress designing is not a profession but an art, and in 1939, the New Yorker declared that a frock from Schiaparelli ranks like a modern canvas.

“In this exhibition, we encounter Schiaparelli as a companion of futurism and a protagonist of surrealism. Collaborating with Dali, Cocteau, Man Ray and others. The skeleton dress, the tears dress, the upside-down shoe hat, the lobster imagery, she revealed how fashion became a theatre for the unconscious, the irrational, the marvellous. Crucially, the exhibition carries Schiaparelli's energy into the present with Daniel Rosebery's creations, and we see that Rosebery understands something essential about Elsa Schiaparelli, that the most memorable fashion moments are not just about silhouette, but about proposition.”

‘Schiaparelli: Fashion Becomes Art’ exhibition at the V&A runs from March 28 to November 8

The exhibition showcases the innovative work of rule-breaking Elsa Schiaparelli, from launching her first collection in 1927 with no formal training to how, within five years, the house employed 400 staff, who created 7,000 couture garments a year, due to her becoming the go-to designer for socialites and celebrities of the era wanting bold, and often audacious, haute couture creations.

Divided into four chapters, the exhibition opens with ‘Designing the Modern Wardrobe,’ and one of earliest Schiaparelli garments, a trompe l’oeil bow-knot sweater from 1927, given to the V&A by the designer in 1974, before exploring her expansion into practical daywear, Pour la Ville, including trouser suits, which were unusual for women at the time, along with sharply tailored skirt suits, often featuring unusual buttons, which are highlighted throughout the exhibition.

The opening chapter also features her striking eveningwear collections, Pour le Soir, which the V&A state includes “some of her most inventive creations,” as they were “bold, dramatic, occasionally subversive”. Highlights include a shimmering gold lamé gown, which demonstrates Schiaparelli’s use of the newest and most innovative materials, and a dinner suit with appliquéd circus horses.

Roseberry’s creations are interspersed with Schiaparelli, highlighting how her early work still stands as innovative today, with the designer drawing inspiration from her love of textures, buttons, and colour, as well as more literal references that entirely reimagine an Elsa Schiaparelli silhouette to the extreme to continue the founder’s daring approach to fashion.

Following the eveningwear, the exhibition moves into exploring the Schiaparelli jacket, highlighting the house’s use of lavish embroidery, exquisite textiles and unusual fastenings, such as a dinner jacket with carrot-shaped buttons.

The exhibition’s second section, ‘Creative Constellations,’ explores Elsa Schiaparelli’s deep connection with art, from her time in 1920s-30s Paris, where she collaborated with surrealist painters, sculptors, and writers who shared her love of the absurd and subversive. This section spotlights Schiaparelli’s relationships with these creatives and some of her most daring designs, such as Dali’s famous Lobster Telephone (1938) and the so-called 1937 Lobster dress that inspired it, alongside an evening coat by Schiaparelli and Jean Cocteau with mirrored facial profiles in gold thread forming a vase filled with pink silk roses.

Following her art-inspired designs, the exhibition moves into ‘Beyond Paris,’ showcasing how Schiaparelli became a “master of self-promotion” by attending glamorous events wearing her own creations, as well as how she was gaining a reputation across the UK, Europe and the US, which led to her opening a London salon in Mayfair in 1933. Highlights of this chapter include a burgundy velvet suit with lavish golden embroidery, a dress and coat worn to the 1937 coronation of King George VI, and the only known surviving example of an Elsa Schiaparelli wedding dress made from oyster coloured crinkled rayon with metal thread worn by Rosalinde Gilbert, an art collector and owner of her own wholesale fashion house, on her wedding day at London’s Golders Green Synagogue.

The final section, ‘A Golden Thread’, celebrates Elsa Schiaparelli’s lasting influence on fashion and her design legacy, which is being carried forward by Roseberry, and the impact of his styles on the red carpet, featuring sculptural silhouettes and nods to American western wear. Key looks include a white vest and cargo trouser ensemble worn by model Maggie Maurer paired with a bedazzled robot baby, from the haute couture spring/summer 2024 collection, a glittering red gown worn by Ariana Grande for her performance at the 2025 Oscars, and a modern black and gold version of the Skeleton dress designed for Dua Lipa for the 2024 Golden Globes.

Delphine Bellini, chief executive of Schiaparelli, added in a statement: "Elsa Schiaparelli's fearless imagination and radical vision redefined the boundaries between fashion and art. This exhibition celebrates her enduring influence through iconic collaborations with 20th-century masters and a pioneering fusion of creativity and commerce.

“With its unparalleled collections, expertise in fashion and design, cultural reach, and ability to bridge tradition and innovation, the Victoria and Albert Museum offers the perfect setting to showcase her legacy alongside Daniel Roseberry's creations, which carry her surrealist spirit forward, blurring lines with bold, sculptural designs that both honour and reinvent her vision for a new century.”