Shocking! Surrealist Schiaparelli at MAD – Paris

When is a fashion house a walking art gallery? When your audacious mentor is fashion designer, Paul Poiret, and two of your contemporary artist friends are surrealists, Man Ray and Salvador Dali. When you walk up the stairs of the Musée des Arts décoratifs (MAD) toward the rays of sunshine, prepare yourself to be transported into a world of design in the shocking surrealist Schiaparelli show at MAD.

To view the photos below choose the image and a slide show opens.

Cape, Cosmic Collection Phoebus Schiaparelli Shocking ColleensParis MAD — Cape, Cosmic Collection “Phoebus” Winter 1937-1938 from the ‘Cosmic’ winter collection of 1938–1939 belonged to the famously elegant Mrs Reginald Fellowes, a wearer of the most extravagant Schiaparelli creations, including Salvador Dalí’s ‘shoe hat’ ensemble.
https://www.palaisgalliera.paris.fr/en/work/phoebus-cape-elsa-schiaparelli

The pink jacket with those sun rays greets you as you open the exhibition’s door. Welcome to the Elsa Schiaparelli retrospective, the first in 20 years. Shocking! The surreal world of Elsa Schiaparelli (Shocking! Les mondes surréalistes d’Elsa Schiaparelli ) continues until January 22, 2023.

Admiring the multitude of form-fitting jackets I asked myself, “to which tea or garden party or soirée would I have worn this?” A working girl’s imagination must have whisked her away to another planet if she was reading Vogue or Harper’s Bazaar in the 1930s and looking at photographs of Elsa Schiaparelli’s surrealist fashion art.

What You Will See

Certain contemporary couture designers who turned their fashion into art, were inspired by the Italian-born Elsa Schiaparelli’s creative designs. Those inspirations are interspersed on two floors of the MAD building among the 520 works and 272 silhouettes and accessories designed by Schiaparelli. They are displayed alongside iconic paintings, sculptures, jewelry, perfumes, ceramics, posters, and photographs by the likes of Schiaparelli’s Surrealist friends and contemporaries: Man Ray, Salvador Dalí, Jean Cocteau, Meret Oppenheim, Elsa Triolet and Alberto Giacometti. Elsa Triolet designed jewelry and Alberto Giacometti buttons for her collections.

Zodiac Jacket Schiaparelli MAD Shocking ColleensParis_0583 — Zodiac evening vest, Astrology Collection 1938-1939

Horst portrait Schiaparelli 1937-1938 Shocking MAD ColleensParis — Horst P. Horst portrait of Elsa Schiaparelli wearing an ensemble from the Winter 1937-1938 collection

Shoe hat Schiaparelli Shocking MAD ColleensParis — Shoe Hat, Winter Collection 1937-1938, Surrealist accessory emblematic of the Dali-Schiaparelli collaboration. This model belonged to Gala.

André Caillet 1938 Gala Schiaparelli shoe hat MAD Shocking ColleensParis — André Caillet – 1938 – Gala wearing Schiaparelli’s shoe hat

Gloves with gold metal nails 1936 Shocking Schiaparelli MAD Colleen's Paris — Evening gloves 1936 gold, metal nails, calf skin, Schiaparelli mixed humor and audacity. Hands was a specific theme of the Surrealists that she used
mains peintes par Picasso, prise par Man Ray en 1935 (part of the Centre Pompidou collection)

Apron Glass Dress Shocking Schiaparelli MAD Colleen's Paris — Spring “Stop, Look and Listen” Collection 1935 Apron/Glass dress
Latest innovation in fabric; grooved appearance due to thin translucent bands of cellophane for the shiny allure

Elsa Schiaparelli highlighted themes for her collections rather than the name of the season, for example, the Circus, “commedia dell’arte,” Astrological, Pagan and Butterfly Collections.

A detailed version of the exhibition with numerous photos in the press kit is available in the MAD press section. If you are unable to download the press kit, email me at info@colleensparis.com and I will share the pdf.

Image of TrompeOeil Sweater Schiaparelli Shocking MAD ColleensParis 0359 — Trompe-l’oeil first sportswear designs. From her autobiography, Schiaparelli wrote that she drew the designs, an Armenian woman in Paris knitted the sweater. More Armenian immigrants were recruited to fill the first order of 40 sweaters. https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/shocking-life-by-elsa-schiaparelli/

Nusch Eluard Pablo Picasso painting Schiaparelli Shocking MAD Colleen's Paris — Nusch Eluard, wife of poet Paul Eluard, posed for Pablo Picasso, summer 1937, wearing a Schiaparelli jacket Winter Collection 1937-1938

Elsa Schiaparelli designed the costumes for Mae West in the film “Every day’s a Holiday” (1937). The plaster model with the actress’s exact measurements was sent to the Schiaparelli studio. The model of Mae West’s silhouette would inspire the form of the Shocking perfume bottle. An excerpt of this film and others with Schiaparelli’s costumes are toward the end of the exhibit.

Cocteau Schiaparelli Shocking MAD ColleensParis 0369 — Jean Cocteau drawings offered to Elsa Schiaparelli who transferred them to an evening coat and a suit jacket for the Fall 1937 collection. Jean considered Elsa to be “the most eccentric of designers”.

Mae West Every day's a holiday Shocking Schiaparelli MAD ColleensParis_0495 — Mae West’s costume for the film Every day’s a holiday 1937.
Elsa Schiaparelli designd all the costumes for Mae West’s role. The costumes were inspired by 1900 fashion.
A plaster model with the exact measurements of the actress’s silhouette was sent to the Schiaparelli studio, which inspired the bottle shape for Shocking perfume

In an Arté interview, Jean-Paul Gaultier said he was inspired by Schiaparelli’s model for his scent collection. Her designs were also interpreted by and inspired the creations of Yves Saint Laurent, Azzedine Alaïa, John Galliano and Christian Lacroix, some of which are on display at the Musée des Arts décoratifs exhibition. Definitely plan more than two hours for this exhibit.

Shocking! Surrealist Schiaparelli at MAD – Paris

What You Will See

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