Knowra Elsa Schiaparelli Elsa Schiaparelli Elsa Schiaparelli (1890–1973) was an Italian fashion designer whose Paris couture house joined bold construction with surrealist imagery and collaborations with artists such as Salvador Dalí.
Lobster Dress : A 1937 Schiaparelli silk evening dress printed with a large lobster designed by Salvador Dalí. Its playful, startling print epitomizes her collaboration with Dalí.
Surrealism : An artistic movement that used dreams, chance, and unexpected juxtapositions to challenge ordinary reality. Its visual logic supplied motifs and strategies for her garments.
Salvador Dalí : A Spanish artist associated with Surrealism, known for dreamlike imagery and precise, illusionistic painting. His collaborations produced several of Schiaparelli’s most famous garments.
Rome : The capital of Italy, with a history stretching from antiquity to the present. Schiaparelli was born and raised in Rome before moving into fashion.
Fashion design : The practice of conceiving clothing and accessories through decisions about form, materials, function, and appearance. Schiaparelli expanded fashion design’s relationship with modern art.
Tear Dress : A 1938 Schiaparelli dress and veil printed with trompe-l’œil rips, designed with Salvador Dalí. It turns an unsettling surrealist image into an illusion on fabric.
Trompe-l'œil : An artistic technique that creates an optical illusion of three-dimensional objects or effects on a flat surface. She used printed illusions to make fabric appear torn, tied, or constructed.
Jean Cocteau : A French poet, filmmaker, and visual artist whose work crossed several modern artistic movements. He created embroidered motifs for Schiaparelli’s 1937 collection.
Paris : The capital of France and a major center of European art, commerce, and fashion. She established her couture house in Paris and built her career there.
Fashion illustration : The visual depiction of clothing designs, traditionally used to communicate garments before they are made. Artists’ drawings helped circulate her ideas and establish the house’s visual identity.
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