A CLOSER LOOK AT SCHIAPARELLI: FASHION BECOMES ART AT THE V&A
words by BEX WHITLEY
In an era increasingly clouded by trend-driven design and fast-fashion duplication, the V&A's latest fashion exhibition, Schiaparelli: Fashion Becomes Art, arrives as a timely reminder that, at its best, fashion is, and has always been, a form of individual expression as serious as any art form.
Born into an aristocratic Roman family with no formal fashion training, Elsa Schiaparelli arrived in Paris in 1927 and built something entirely her own. For the designer of the eponymous fashion house, clothes were never simply garments to be worn: each piece was a conversation, an experience, and even a provocation.
all images courtesy of BEX WHITLEY
Featuring over 400 objects, the exhibition was curated by Sonnet Stanfill, Lydia Caston and Rosalind McKever. The journey is somewhat chronological and biographical, following the brand from its very first Paris address of Schiaparelli: Pour le Sport to the present-day house under Creative Director Daniel Roseberry.
Maison Schiaparelli is often recognised for their avant-garde designs, gilded anatomy, and sculptural surrealism of their couture shows – yet their beginnings were much more functionality-focused. So how does someone go from creating sportswear in 1927 to becoming a leading women’s couturier by just 1934? The answer lies in the designer's creativity and her inventive,subversive approach of responding to the times through her creations.
“For me, dress designing is not a profession but an art.”
The early chapters of the exhibition include a 1935 textile printed with newspaper cuttings about Schiaparelli herself, as well as one of her earliest garments – a trompe l'oeil bow-knot sweater from 1927. The journey from practical daywear to striking eveningwear collections, Pour le Soir, introduces some of her most inventive creations, including a shimmering gold lamé gown or a dinner suit with appliquéd circus horses. Accessories build on this element of playfulness even further, with hats shaped as plaited hair and shoes featuring stripes or leopard fur.
It was with this creative vision that Elsa Schiaparelli’s works began to redefine the boundaries between fashion and art, creating an intersection few had yet to explore. Her collaborators included Salvador Dalí, Jean Cocteau and Man Ray, and her admirers soon became international. Jean Cocteau was said to have described her Place Vendôme salon as "an otherworldly laboratory", and the artists who gathered there treated it as such.
If art is meant to imitate life, Schiaparelli’s legacy lies in the reversal of this expected order. Featured clothes, paintings, jewellery and photography reveal the extent of Schiaparelli’s effect on the world of art. When Nusch Éluard arrived at Picasso's studio wearing a Schiaparelli hat, the artist was so struck by its angular form he painted her portrait on the spot. A Marcel Vertès collage, meanwhile, reimagines the Napoleon column at Place Vendôme with fashion models climbing its face in place of soldiers, portraying the legacy and impact of her designs on fashion itself.
The grand finale brings the story to the present, spotlighting the breathtaking creations of Daniel Roseberry. Notable features include Dua Lipa’s Golden Globes look, a modern take on the historic Skeleton dress, as well as Ariana Grande’s 2025 Oscars dresses. The silhouette of Grande’s soft pink gown was reportedly inspired by an Alberto Giacometti lamp found in the Schiaparelli archives, and is adorned by over 190,000 crystal sequins, rhinestones and beads.
While in many ways, the designs are a far cry from her original works, the nuance of how Roseberry has translated Elsa Schiaparelli’s vision into a modern era is profound. Since stepping in as Creative Director in 2019, his couture shows and daring designs both honour and reinvent her vision for a new century, whilst maintaining the house’s position as one of the most critically discussed in Paris and beyond. His work is less a tribute than a continuation, reshaped for a modern audience.
Expanding the V&A's celebrated series of major fashion exhibitions – among them Gabrielle Chanel: Fashion Manifesto and Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty – Schiaparelli: Fashion Becomes Art is open until November 2026.