"Naked mermaids and prancing horses, silk carrots and unshelled peanuts, gilded elephant trunks, drums and masks are just a few of the buttons. The V&A's lavish spring show is a weird and wonderful tumble down the rabbit hole that is Schiaparelli, fashion's house of surrealism."
"A stroll through the galleries feels less like admiring a beauty pageant lineup of frocks, and more like taking a turn through a 1930s Paris cocktail party with Schiaparelli and her friends Salvador Dali and Jean Cocteau: bracingly avant garde, mildly unsettling, all visual puns and in-jokes."
"This show reframes that label as a compliment, minus the waspish backhand. It argues that Schiaparelli was not a fashion designer who hung out with surrealist artists, but an artist in her own right."
"Next to her famous skeleton dress of 1938, another Dali collaboration, with padded ribs and spine of cotton wadding protruding eerily from."
The V&A's spring show features the surrealist fashion of Elsa Schiaparelli, highlighting her witty designs that transform ordinary items into extraordinary garments. The exhibition includes whimsical pieces like a shoe that becomes a hat and a dress with external bones. It captures the spirit of 1930s Paris, showcasing Schiaparelli's collaborations with artists like Salvador Dali. The show reframes Schiaparelli as an artist rather than just a designer, emphasizing her unique contributions to fashion and surrealism, including iconic pieces like the lobster dress and skeleton dress.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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