Annie went to the Schiaparelli Exhibition at the V&A
The Colourist
Hosts Annie Sloan and Tristan Merriam explore the revolutionary fashion legacy of Elsa Schiaparelli, inspired by a recent exhibition at the
Key takeaways
- Elsa Sch립arelli founded Maison Schiaparelli in Paris in 1927.
- The V&A exhibition featured dark, dramatic displays highlighting her avant-garde style.
Main topics
- Elsa Schiaparelli's fashion legacy
- Surrealism in art and fashion
Notable quotes
Shocking Pink is very important.
Conclusion
The episode serves as an inspiration to embrace unconventional colors
Transcript preview
Speaker 3 (0:01) Hello, I'm Annie Sloan. And Speaker 1 (0:03) I'm Tristan Merriam. And Speaker 3 (0:04) this is The Colourist. Speaker 1 (0:06) The podcast that showcases the power of colour and how it brings joy into our homes. Speaker 3 (0:11) Join us as we explore significant artists, designers and influential people, linking the past to the present and giving you the confidence to paint everything. Speaker 1 (0:21) Well, maybe not everything. Speaker 3 (0:24) OK, let's explain. Speaker 2 (0:31) Ready? Speaker 1 (0:31) Yes. So today we are bringing the shock factor to the podcast by talking about one of the most revolutionary and renowned fashion designers of our time, Elsa Schiaparelli. And we have featured Elsa Schiaparelli on a previous Colourist podcast, but we're coming back to it. So tell us why and also tell us who she was for somebody who might not know. Speaker 3 (0:55) Well, she was Italian. But she worked in Paris. She was born at the end of the 19th century in 1890 in Rome, I think from a rather smart family. And she then went to Paris, of course, because that's where it all happened. And she became one of the most incredible leader of this fashion house. She started Maison Schiaparelli in Paris in 1927. And it just went crazy. She was just completely different. Now, I've recently been to see the exhibition in London. Now, we did a podcast about her before, and it was all about Shocking Pink. Because that, to me, Schiaparelli meant Shocking Pink, just Shocking Pink. And we did Capri, of course. And I've now been to the exhibition. And Shocking Pink is very important. Speaker 3 (1:51) But actually, the most shocking thing about her is... One of the things is the exhibition was mainly black. Speaker 1 (2:00) Amazing. And that shocked you in itself. Speaker 3 (2:02) Totally. Yeah. And actually, it was quite dark. The exhibition was purposely dark because she is very dramatic. And it was... The most shocking thing was the craziness and the avant-garde aspect of her art. Speaker 1 (2:18) We Speaker 3 (2:19) were... Blown away by it. And this is very recent, Speaker 1 (2:22) isn't it? This year, 2026, 25. Yes, yes. Speaker 3 (2:25) It actually ends quite soon. So I just got the V &A in London. And I'm not sure it's Speaker 1 (2:32) a Speaker 3 (2:32) touring exhibition. Anyway, it was. Just brilliant. I could have stayed there for hours and hours. We didn't leave ourselves enough time. Speaker 1 (2:40) No, and it showcased her creations, her fashion creations. Yes. She's Speaker 3 (2:45) been overtaken, or the company has been taken over, not overtaken, taken over by someone called Daniel Roseberry. Speaker 1 (2:51) And Speaker 3 (2:52) he is taking on the mantle of her and doing some extremely avant-garde stuff, but avant-garde stuff mainly for people like Lady Gaga and incredible... things that you would never wear yourself, but look incredible. Speaker 1 (3:08) Absolutely. So what was she really famous for? Because she did many things. Speaker 3 (3:12) Yeah. I think one of the things that attracts me to her hugely is the way that she worked with artists. So she worked with Salvador Dali famously. She worked with Man Ray. People may not know these people, but they were surrealists. Man Ray is less known, but he's known for... various things. Ah, what is he famous for? There's that beautiful photograph of a woman's back and it's like a violin with a sort of double clef thing on it. She worked with Cocteau, incredible work with Cocteau. And I think it's the creativity, the weirdness that she... Put into weirdness is a bad word. Speaker 1 (4:02) But Speaker 3 (4:03) previously, fashion had been quite, I suppose, normal. Women were women, men were men. Women were... It was nothing unconventional. And she brought out the unconventional. I mean, crazy things like finding a beautiful hat. But it was... making a beautiful hat, but it was actually a shoe turned upside down. There's lots of things like Speaker 2 (4:28) that. Speaker 3 (4:29) So going around the exhibition, there were so many things there that I thought, I could wear this. And I've talked to other people about it, and we all felt, I could have Speaker 1 (4:37) worn, I could still wear this. Amazing. Timeless. Speaker 3 (4:40) Absolutely timeless. In fact, some of it's a bit too, oh, my God. Speaker 1 (4:43) Yeah. I Speaker 3 (4:44) mean, there were things there. You know, the zips. So she was putting zips. in making them very, very obvious, which you'd think that's a real sort of punk rock thing from the 70s. She's got them all over her dress. And she's got them obvious. Some of them at jaunty angles. Some of them right to the front. But it's showing the zip. Speaker 1 (5:10) Whereas before it would have been obviously. The best seamstresses would have hidden those zips. Invisible. Speaker 2 (5:18) Invisible, that was the whole Speaker 1 (5:20) thing. Speaker 3 (5:22) She used cellophane in her clothes. She used synthetic materials. She emphasised the fact that women had breasts, whereas before it would just be the silhouette. Now she put little, like, breast Speaker 1 (5:36) pads, which Speaker 3 (5:38) again is something from Lady Gaga and all sorts of people, Madonna. And she made little circles around them to make it clear that this was a breast. Speaker 1 (5:48) So she was playing around with... female form yes and sort of breaking the traditional way of presenting that form yes Speaker 3 (5:56) she also introduced sport into it all so um you there was lots of the the dress the skirt shorts that was her really yeah Speaker 1 (6:08) skorts well Speaker 3 (6:10) is that what Speaker 1 (6:10) they're called gosh don't ask me i'm not the right person to happen i don't know i Speaker 3 (6:14) don't know but that's amazing yeah yeah so um So, again, you know, before that, women really were not playing, you know, it was too much of an exertion for women. Speaker 2 (6:27) This Speaker 3 (6:28) is post-First World War, and I think men had been away, and it was, you know, that time when women had to go into the factories or whatever they did. And so it was becoming more obvious that actually women were actually quite capable. So, yeah, lots of things that she... She did power dressing a little bit. I Speaker 1 (6:47) know what you're going to say. It's shoulder pads. Shoulder Speaker 3 (6:49) pads. Speaker 1 (6:49) That is the definition of power. Yeah. The 80s. Outline. Yeah. But it's not 80s. She was doing it. It's 30s. Speaker 3 (6:58) Yeah, yeah. And actually, Salvador Dali looked at some of her work and sort of made paintings and things about it with the zips and the power shoulders and all the rest of it. So, yeah, she was really out there. Amazing. Turning everybody upside down. Shocking the world. Shocking the world, yeah. And what Speaker 1 (7:21) I sense is that she was an art lover. She was interested in artists at the time and she merged the two worlds of art and fashion together. And why not? I mean, we're very accustomed to that these days. But she was really the first person, Speaker 2 (7:37) one Speaker 1 (7:38) of the first people to do that. Yeah. and make a statement through your fashion choices. Speaker 3 (7:43) Yeah, yeah. She apparently was in Time magazine, 1934, as an ultra-modernist. She was the first female fashion designer, I don't know, probably the first fashion designer to be on the front cover of Time magazine. So there's definitely Speaker 1 (7:58) a feminist power here. Speaker 3 (8:01) Yes, yeah. Speaker 1 (8:02) That's a big part of it. Speaker 3 (8:03) Yes, yeah, I think so. I don't know whether she went about it saying that she was a feminist. No. Maybe. I mean, it'd been, she might not have called herself a feminist, but it was, it would have been post the suffragette. So there would have been that in the air to a certain extent. Speaker 1 (8:19) Fantastic. Speaker 3 (8:19) Yeah. Speaker 1 (8:19) And where did she have the most influence? She lived in Paris for most of this period. She did go to New York briefly in about 1940 something. Was