Schiaparelli: Fashion becomes Art

Earlier this month I had the pleasure of visiting the Schiaparelli exhibition at the V&A. This is the first UK show based solely on this iconic and inventive, surrealist designer who, without formal training transformed fashion into art. A woman so avant garde she put the shocking into pink, when she official designed the colour in 1937! So you can imagine the anticipation for such an exhibition.

The exhibition charts her earlier career, collaborations with stars of stage & screen, alongside those with leading artists such as Jean Couteau and Dali. Highlights include the lobster dress, skeleton dress and tears dress with veil all created with Dali, and which blurred the boundaries between art and fashion which was pioneering. It also ties in the establishment of her London house from 1933 to 1939 including many items from her UK patrons.

It’s an enthralling exhibition with so many gems. One of the fascinating points for me was the innovative use of cutting and zips. Apparently, she was the first designer to use visible zips – and I thought it was a 21st century idea! One dress on display is so fitted, almost body con, it has four zips – I guess that's one way round design in the days before lycra.

And please don’t get me started on the buttons… big ones, unusual ones, acrobat ones, so many amazing buttons.

Nearly two hours later and I felt I’d only scratched the surface. I’ll definitely be taking advantage of my V&A membership and visiting this one again!