{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O133550"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O133550/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PE3729/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PE3729/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2025PE3729","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PE3710","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PE2992","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PE2991","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006BK4750","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006BG5677","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006BK4754","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006BK4753","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006BK4752","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O133550","accessionNumber":"T.427-1974","objectType":"Hat","titles":[{"title":"The Pagan Collection","type":"named collection"}],"summaryDescription":"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.  \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\nPink and green flies and beetles crawl over this hat, part of Elsa Schiaparelli's Autumn 1938 Pagan collection. One necklace from this collection was made from clear plastic set with metallic insects like those on this hat.","physicalDescription":"Wide-brimmed hat made from polyvinyl acetate. Grosgrain hatband, trimmed with pink and green metallic beetles and other insects.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Elsa Schiaparelli","id":"A2375"},"association":{"text":"designer","id":"x36960"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"pampas grass","id":"AAT11883"}],"techniques":[{"text":"millinery","id":"x39135"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Polyvinyl acetate, metallic trimming","categories":[{"text":"Accessories","id":"THES48998"},{"text":"Hats and headwear","id":"THES48943"},{"text":"Day wear","id":"THES49000"},{"text":"Fashion","id":"THES48957"},{"text":"Clothing","id":"THES48975"}],"styles":[{"text":"Surrealist","id":"AAT21512"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&F","id":"THES48601"},"images":["2025PE3729","2025PE3710","2025PE2992","2025PE2991","2006BK4750","2006BG5677","2006BK4754","2006BK4753","2006BK4752"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"SAINS","id":"THES276095"},"free":"","case":"CA003","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Hat","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Paris","id":"x29068"},"association":{"text":"designed","id":"x29338"},"note":""},{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"sold","id":"x34778"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"Autumn 1938","earliest":"1938-09-01","latest":"1938-10-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by Lady Alexandra Trevor-Roper","dimensions":[],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"Schiaparelli London","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Label inside hat"}],"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 \nThis hat was worn and given by Lady Alexandra Trevor-Roper.\n\nPhoto of this on pg. 70 of Surreal Body.\n\r\nAlthough hat shape looks like 1950s, it may well be earlier, as bugs are very similar to those on Rhodoid bug necklace from Fall 1938 collection and would have been more in step stylistically then. \r\n\nJan G. Reeder, Curator, The Costume Institute, The Metropolitan Museum of Art\r\nTaken May, 2011, Compiled September, 2011\r\n\r\n","historicalContext":"\"April 28: Schiaparelli's collection for Autumn 1938, \"A Pagan Collection\", features Botticelli-inspired and spring themes: leaves, apple blossoms, wild strawberries and insects. There are also doll-sized hats, three dimensional petal and leaf embroidery, and a flat collar necklace of Rhodoid set with insects.\" (Blum, p.297)\r\n\r\nThe above-described necklace, now in the Metropolitan Museum, New York (gifted by the Brooklyn Museum) can be seen on pages 170-171 of \"Fashion and Surrealism\", which clearly shows how similar the insects are to those scattered over this hat. The hat was acquired as 1950s, however, the label in this hat is from the Schiaparelli London salon, which closed in 1939. This confirms beyond a doubt that the hat dates from the 1930s and is a rare example of headwear from this significant and relatively little-known Schiaparelli collection.\r\n\r\n- Daniel Milford-Cottam, 2011\r\n\r\n<b>Bibilography</b>\r\n<br>\r\nBlum, Dilys E. <i>Shocking! The Art and Fashion of Elsa Schiaparelli</i>, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2003\r\nMartin, R. <i>Fashion and Surrealism</i>, London, 1988.\r\n\r\n<b>References:</b>\r\nElsa Schiaparelli (French, born Italy, 1890–1973). Necklace, autumn 1938. Clear Rhodoid (cellulose acetate plastic); metallic green, red, pink, blue, and yellow painted pressed metal ornaments. Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Arturo and Paul Peralta Ramos, 1955 (2009.300.1234)","briefDescription":"Hat with metallic insects, 'The Pagan Collection', designed by Schiaparelli, Paris, autumn 1938.","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"Haute couture","id":"THES48861"},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"insects","id":"x30217"},{"text":"beetles","id":"AAT24198"},{"text":"flies","id":"x35668"}],"contentConcepts":[{"text":"surrealism","id":"x35568"}],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"<i><b>Schiaparelli: Fashion Becomes Art</b></i><b> (March - November 2026)</b>\r\n\r\nWhite large-brimmed hat with insects\r\nElsa Schiaparelli\r\nAutumn 1938, Pagan collection\r\nParis\r\nPolyvinyl acetate fibre, metal\r\nV&A: T.427-1974\r\nGiven by Lady Alexandra Trevor-Roper","date":{"text":"2026","earliest":"2026-01-01","latest":"2026-12-31"}}],"partNumbers":["T.427-1974"],"accessionNumberNum":"427","accessionNumberPrefix":"T","accessionYear":1974,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-08-10","recordCreationDate":"2007-03-30","availableToBook":false}}