{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O123893"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O123893/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PE9390/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PE9390/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2025PE9390","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PE9391","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PE9394","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PE9395","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PE9392","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2021MV0828","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O123893","accessionNumber":"T.50-1965","objectType":"Evening dress","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"","physicalDescription":"Strapless evening dress consisting of a ruched sheath of mauve and purple acetate satin with a volant at the right hip. Floor length. It consists of a softly draped mauve hip length tunic gathered up on the right hand side, over a tight purple skirt with a looser over-skirt slit at the right hand side. Stitched under the drape of the tunic at the back is a wide folded train matching the skirts and interlined with black stiffened net. The inner bodice is boned and fastens with hooks and eyes on the left hand side of the bodice where the over-bodice zips over it.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Elsa Schiaparelli","id":"A2375"},"association":{"text":"designer","id":"x36960"},"note":""},{"name":{"text":"Robert Perrier","id":"A18434"},"association":{"text":"manufacturer","id":"x33306"},"note":"textile"}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"satin","id":"AAT132902"},{"text":"net (textile)","id":"AAT249438"}],"techniques":[{"text":"sewing","id":"AAT53658"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Acetate satin, net, boned","categories":[{"text":"Fashion","id":"THES48957"},{"text":"Evening wear","id":"THES48999"},{"text":"Womenswear","id":"THES49044"},{"text":"Textiles","id":"THES48885"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&F","id":"THES48601"},"images":["2025PE9390","2025PE9391","2025PE9394","2025PE9395","2025PE9392","2021MV0828"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"SAINS","id":"THES276095"},"free":"","case":"FIG053","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Evening dress","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Paris","id":"x29068"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1952","earliest":"1952-01-01","latest":"1952-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by Madame Elsa Schiaparelli","dimensions":[],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"Schiaparelli label","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Stitched inside the inner skirt towards the hem"}],"objectHistory":"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.  \r\n\r\nThis dress was given to the Victoria and Albert Museum by the designer.","historicalContext":"Schiaparelli started showing slim formal evening gowns in daring colour combinations in July 1951 for Winter 1951-52.  The skirts ended in immense loops like a giant bustle at the back.\r\nThe November 1951 showing for Spring 1952 featured similar gowns with asymmetric drapes.  The featured colours that year were shocking pink, 'peony', violet red and 'hard' blue.  The February 1952 collection again showed similar gowns but with inverted heart shaped necklines and huge twisted bustle drapes.\r\nThe Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, has a similar gown.","briefDescription":"Strapless evening dress of acetate satin, designed by Elsa Schiaparelli, textile made by Robert Perrier, Paris, 1952","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"Rothstein, Natalie. <u>Four Hundred Years of Fashion</u>. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1984. ISBN: 1851771166.","id":"AUTH332588"},"details":"p.94","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Dilys E. Blum, 'Shocking!: The Art and Fashion of Elsa Schiaparelli',\r\n(Yale University Press: 2003), p.280 and 283."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"L'Officiel, April 1952, p.6"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"Haute couture","id":"THES48861"},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["T.50-1965"],"accessionNumberNum":"50","accessionNumberPrefix":"T","accessionYear":1965,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-05-06","recordCreationDate":"2006-05-12","availableToBook":false}}