The UK has never before seen an exhibition of the legendary Italian fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli, and now more than 400 objects are going on view at the V&A, including 100 ensembles and 50 artworks, along with accessories, jewelry, paintings, photographs, furniture, perfumes, and items from the archive. “Schiaparelli: Fashion Becomes Art” encompasses looks from the house spanning from her first designs, from the 1920s, to the present day, under creative director Daniel Roseberry.
“‘Schiaparelli: Fashion Becomes Art’ will celebrate one of the most ingenious and daring designers in fashion history,” said Tristram Hunt, director of the V&A, in a statement. “The V&A holds one of the largest and most important fashion collections in the world, and the foremost collection of Schiaparelli garments in Britain. Schiaparelli’s collaboration with artists and with the world of performance make the Maison and its founder an ideal subject for a spectacular exhibition at the V&A.” Curating the show are Sonnet Stanfill, Lydia Caston, and Rosalind McKever.
“Schiaparelli: Fashion Becomes Art” at V&A South Kensington.
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The show pays special attention to Schiaparelli’s collaborations with artists, particularly Salvador Dalí; the show includes the only known surviving example of the Skeleton dress the two collaborated on and the Tears dress from the same year, as well as a hat resembling an upside-down shoe.
“For me, dress designing is not a profession but an art,” Schiaparelli once said, and, funny enough, Coco Chanel once dismissed her as “that Italian artist who’s making clothes.” In fact, Schiaparelli collaborated with other Surrealist painters, sculptors, and writers, including Alberto Giacometti, Meret Oppenheim, and Jean Schlumberger, with whom she shared a sensibility that favored the subversive and absurd.
And fittingly enough, artists turned their attention to the master designer herself. The show features portraits of Schiaparelli by Pablo Picasso and Man Ray as well as artworks created for her by Eileen Agar and Jean Cocteau.
Taking the show up to the present day are Roseberry’s unique look for top performance artists like Ariana Grande and Dua Lipa.
“Schiaparelli: Fashion Becomes Art” will be at the V&A, Sainsbury Gallery, March 28–November 8, 2026.
