As corporate patrons of the V&A, we are proud to continue our long-standing endorsement of the arts and support the museum's mission to enrich people's lives through research, knowledge and enjoyment of the design world. Sonnet Stanfill, Senior Curator, Fashion at the V&A, talks to us about ‘Schiaparelli: Fashion Becomes Art’, the V&A’s latest blockbuster exhibition and the UK’s first dedicated to Elsa Schiaparelli.
Spanning the 1920s to today, the exhibition celebrates the innovative designer's influence, and traces the fashion house’s groundbreaking origins and its evolution under current creative director Daniel Roseberry.
The V&A exhibition charts the origins and design contributions of the fashion house founded by Elsa Schiaparelli (1890–1973), who redefined fashionable taste and perceptions of beauty in the 20th century. Born in Rome into a family of academics and aristocrats, she fled their conservative expectations, leaving Italy at the age of 23 to live a life that was anything but conventional.
With no formal training, Elsa Schiaparelli launched her first fashion collection in 1927. Her bold, often audacious, haute couture creations soon made her the designer of choice for a confident clientele. Within five years, she employed 400 staff who created over 7000 couture garments each year. Often designing to confront and shock, Schiaparelli’s radical approach embraced the new and experimental, resulting in clothes that were resolutely modern.
From her impressive premises at 21 Place Vendôme, her impact extended beyond fashion. Between 1931 and 1953, Elsa Schiaparelli costumed more than 60 theatre and film productions in London, Paris and New York. Her theatrical window displays, which often featured two articulated, wooden figures, known as Pascal and Pascaline, became something of a tourist attraction. Embedded within Europe’s creative avant‑garde, she positioned her work in direct dialogue with art, design and performance until her retirement in 1954.
With the purchase of the brand in 2006 and the appointment of Daniel Roseberry as Creative Director in 2019, the house has regained its position as the source of high-octane haute couture for daring tastemakers. While Maison Schiaparelli continues to celebrate the talents and techniques of Parisian haute couture, featuring skilful draping, intricate embroidery and lavish embellishment, Roseberry has furthered the design heritage of the fashion house by crafting garments that embrace innovation and the unpredictable.
Roseberry’s unique design signatures include sculptural silhouettes and references to American western wear and cowboy styling. For him, this reinterpretation and reinvention is ‘a story that only Schiaparelli can tell’. Today, Maison Schiaparelli’s profile continues to rise, thanks to prominent clients and a vibrant media presence, with Roseberry’s ability to capture the attention economy echoing the skills of the house’s founder, who was a gifted entrepreneur and media-savvy promoter.
On today’s red carpet and for high profile events, Maison Schiaparelli remains one of the leading choices for prominent personalities. At the 2025 Oscars, singer Ariana Grande, who was nominated for her role in the musical ‘Wicked’, performed in a red sequinned and beaded ball gown. A three-dimensional trompe l’oeil heel at the back of the bodice paid homage to Dorothy’s ruby slippers from the original film, ‘The Wizard of Oz’ (1939), while alluding to Schiaparelli’s own Shoe hat (1937-38). This dazzling detail connected past with present and aligned Maison Schiaparelli with its legacy of innovative designs that combine wit, surprise and couture savoir faire.
The exhibition also includes a gown worn by singer Dua Lipa for her 2024 Golden Globe appearance, and closes with photographs of prominent figures, from singer Lady Gaga to actors Zendaya and Gillian Anderson, all wearing Schiaparelli by Daniel Roseberry. It seems a fitting conclusion, given that the founder described her clients as ‘those shining personalities [who]...add distinction to the clothes we make for them’.
The idea for mounting an exhibition about the house of Schiaparelli was first discussed over seven years ago, with the V&A’s then recently arrived Director of Exhibitions, Daniel Slater. The exhibition narrative for ‘Schiaparelli: Fashion Becomes Art’ showcases the exquisite skill and innovation of the House of Schiaparelli through four chapters:
‘Designing the Modern Wardrobe’ looks at designing for aspects of a client’s wardrobe needs.
‘Creative Constellations’ examines the founder’s deep connections and collaborations with the leading artists of her time, including Salvador Dalì, Man Ray and Jean Cocteau.
The penultimate section, ‘Beyond Paris’, showcases the London branch of Elsa Schiaparelli’s couture enterprise, the first examination of its kind in a major exhibition.
‘A Golden Thread’, the exhibition's final section, celebrates Elsa Schiaparelli's lasting influence on fashion, now carried forward by creative director Daniel Roseberry.
Bringing together fashion, accessories, jewellery, painting, sculpture, photography, film and archival documents, the exhibition has benefited from the generosity of numerous lenders. The V&A is also grateful to Maison Schiaparelli for making their archive accessible, particularly the work of Daniel Roseberry, who the museum worked in tandem with to ensure that the garments he designed for the house would look their best within the exhibition.
At its heart, however, is the V&A’s own collection of Elsa Schiaparelli garments, several of which are the only known surviving examples of a particular style. Given to the museum over many decades by the clients who wore them or by their families, these garments provide a record of the glittering, singular women who wore Elsa Schiaparelli’s designs.
The exhibition is now open at the V&A South Kensington, closing 15 November 2026.
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