{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1223949"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1223949/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PE2933/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PE2933/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2025PE2933","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PE2932","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PE2934","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PE2938","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PE2936","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2012FP4698","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London/Elsa Schiaparelli","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2012FP4699","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London/Elsa Schiaparelli","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2012FP4697","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London/Elsa Schiaparelli","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1223949","accessionNumber":"T.42:1 to 3-2010","objectType":"Evening dress","titles":[{"title":"The Parachute Collection","type":"named collection"}],"summaryDescription":"","physicalDescription":"Elsa Schiaparelli (1890–1973) was one of the world’s revolutionary fashion designers. Her couture house, one of the most discussed of interwar Paris, redefined fashionable taste and perceptions of beauty in the 20th century. With no formal training, she 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, Maison Schiaparelli employed 400 staff who created over 7000 couture garments each year.\r\n\r\nOften designing to confront and shock, Schiaparelli’s radical approach embraced the new and experimental, resulting in clothes that were resolutely modern. Perhaps more than any fashion designer of the era, Schiaparelli urged textile manufacturers to bring her their newest and best materials. At the same time, Schiaparelli’s impact extended beyond fashion and she possessed a vibrant artistic sensibility. Embedded within Europe’s creative avantgarde, she positioned her work in direct dialogue with art, design and performance. Her collaborations with artists, including Salvador Dalí, Jean Cocteau and Meret Oppenheim, led to some of her most radical and memorable designs for clothing, accessories and jewellery. In 1954, Schiaparelli officially retired and closed the doors of her couture salon. She left an enduring mark on the world of fashion and a creative legacy that spanned the cities of Paris, London and New York.\n\nThis dress from her Parachute Collection (1936) is a summer evening dress of bias-cut white organdie with sculpturally cut bodice and intricately constructed collar. The shoulders are composed of layers of  organdie connected with press studs to shape them into elaborate folds, suggesting puffed sleeves although not actually puffed. The slim skirt flares out at the knee into a gently ballooning silhouette with three bands of purple velvet. Over a matching slip, with a wide sash of purple satin.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Schiaparelli, Elsa","id":"A2375"},"association":{"text":"designer","id":"x36960"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"organdie","id":"x30596"},{"text":"velvet","id":"AAT133711"},{"text":"satin","id":"AAT132902"}],"techniques":[{"text":"sewing","id":"AAT53658"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"","categories":[{"text":"Fashion","id":"THES48957"},{"text":"Clothing","id":"THES48975"},{"text":"Evening wear","id":"THES48999"},{"text":"Womenswear","id":"THES49044"},{"text":"Formal wear","id":"THES48950"},{"text":"Europeana Fashion Project","id":"THES265804"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&F","id":"THES48601"},"images":["2025PE2933","2025PE2932","2025PE2934","2025PE2938","2025PE2936","2012FP4698","2012FP4699","2012FP4697"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"SAINS","id":"THES276095"},"free":"","case":"FIG023","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"SAINS","id":"THES276095"},"free":"","case":"FIG023","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"SAINS","id":"THES276095"},"free":"","case":"FIG023","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"evening dress","id":"AAT243843"}],[{"text":"evening dress sash","id":""}],[{"text":"evening dress petticoat","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Paris","id":"x29068"},"association":{"text":"designed","id":"x29338"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"early 1936","earliest":"1936-01-01","latest":"1936-06-30"},"association":{"text":"designed","id":"x29338"},"note":""},{"date":{"text":"early 1936","earliest":"1936-01-01","latest":"1936-06-30"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"The silhouette of the skirt, which suggests an opening parachute or flower, is similar to that of a black and white rippled-satin mid-calf length dinner dress in the collection (T.391-1974). The dinner dress is a documented and published design from the Parachute Collection of summer 1936 (ref. Paris Centre de Documentation de Costume, Schiaparelli, Album no 11, 1936, p.79; design also reproduced on page 92 of Dilys Blum's book 'Shocking! The art and fashion of Elsa Schiaparelli').\r\n\r\nThe \"Stratospheric\" and \"Aeroplane\" silhouettes of the Parachute collection for summer 1936 (which was presented February 1936) were inspired by parachutes and aerodynamics. On a visit to Moscow, Schiaparelli had been fascinated by the sight of Russian citizens parachuting from a specially set up tower. As a child, she had jumped out of a window using an umbrella as a parachute, so this was also reflected in her designs for this collection. Another influence was Leonardo's parachute drawings.\r\n\r\n- Daniel Milford-Cottam, 2011","briefDescription":"Summer evening dress, white organdie, trimmed with purple velvet and satin, Schiaparelli, Paris, 1936.","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"Haute couture","id":"THES48861"},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["T.42:1-2010","T.42:2-2010","T.42:3-2010"],"accessionNumberNum":"42","accessionNumberPrefix":"T","accessionYear":2010,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","Evening dress","Evening dress sash","Evening dress petticoat"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-05-08","recordCreationDate":"2011-06-27","availableToBook":false}}