Elsa Schiaparelli

‘In difficult times, fashion is always outrageous.’
Elsa Schiaparelli

Fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli (1890 – 1973) was a provocateur who took pleasure in challenging typical notions of dress. Witty, elegant and often strikingly surreal, her designs incorporate humour and surprise, inviting the viewer to look and look again.

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Schiaparelli worked within the confines of traditional tailoring but played with subversive details, extraordinary materials and the imagery of Surrealism to create unique fashion statements. Our collection includes one of her earliest designs, a black jumper knitted with a white bow, alongside her most powerfully Surrealist works, designed in collaboration with the artists Salvador Dali and Jean Cocteau.

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Header image: Hat,The Pagan Collection, designed by Elsa Schiaparelli, 1938, Paris, France.