{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O133559"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O133559/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PF2711/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PF2711/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2025PF2711","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PF2672","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PF2546","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PF2544","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PF2543","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PF2542","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PF2529","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006BK4739","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006BK4741","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006BK4743","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006BK4742","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006BK4740","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2013GA0556","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O133559","accessionNumber":"T.36-1964","objectType":"Evening dress","titles":[],"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\n\nThis evening dress is from Schiaparelli's Winter 1935 collection. Here, Schiaparelli has taken the intimate padding over the breasts which would normally be concealed, and used it to decorate the outside of a severe brown crepe dress. ","physicalDescription":"Evening dress of brown woollen crêpe. Floor length, high necked with a gathered bodice, and a circular trapunto quilting over each breast. Six rows of gold braid encircle the slim and columnar full length skirt at regular intervals from the waist down. Fastens at the back with a gilt button on which is impressed a horse. No sleeves, but the shoulder is covered with a small gathered cape attached to the neckband. The bodice is open to the back of the waist and fastens from the waist to hip with a matching celluloid zip fastener. Grouped at the centre back.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Elsa Schiaparelli","id":"A2375"},"association":{"text":"designer","id":"x36960"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"wool crepe","id":"x36836"},{"text":"gold braid","id":"AAT248064"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Wool crêpe, gold braid, celluloid, impressed gilt metal","categories":[{"text":"Fashion","id":"THES48957"},{"text":"Womenswear","id":"THES49044"},{"text":"Evening wear","id":"THES48999"},{"text":"Textiles","id":"THES48885"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&F","id":"THES48601"},"images":["2025PF2711","2025PF2672","2025PF2546","2025PF2544","2025PF2543","2025PF2542","2025PF2529","2006BK4739","2006BK4741","2006BK4743","2006BK4742","2006BK4740","2013GA0556"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"SAINS","id":"THES276095"},"free":"","case":"FIG051","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":"late 1935","earliest":"1935-06-01","latest":"1935-12-31"},"association":{"text":"designed","id":"x29338"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by Mrs P. Otway-Smithers","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Circumference","value":"61.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Waist - measured inside garment","note":"Measured by Conservation"},{"dimension":"Circumference","value":"81","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Bust - measured inside garment","note":"Measured by Conservation"},{"dimension":"Length","value":"38","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Nape-waist","note":"Measured by Conservation"}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"SCHIAPARELLI, 21 PLACE VENDOM PARIS HIVER 1935-36","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Stamped on a label stitched to the inside side seam"}],"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\nWorn by Mrs. Peter Otway-Smithers, who remembered this being one of the first dresses to have a zip fastener.\n\n\nPhoto notes:\r\n\tBodice front: Trapunto embroidery over the breasts; applied gold braid strips on skirt from waist down\r\n\tBack hem: gathered flounce at back.\r\n\tLabel: Paris label hiver 35-36\r\n\tCB Zipper: brown plastic zipper at CB.  Probably Eclair zip\n\nJan G. Reeder, Curator, The Costume Institute, The Metropolitan Museum of Art\r\nTaken May, 2011, Compiled September, 2011\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Evening dress of woollen crêpe, designed by Elsa Schiaparelli, Paris, Winter 1935-36","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"Reason For Production: Commission","productionType":{"text":"Haute couture","id":"THES48861"},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"horse","id":"x34864"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"<i><b>Schiaparelli: Fashion Becomes Art</b></i><b> (March - November 2026)</b>\n\nEvening dress\n\r\nSchiaparelli’s Winter 1935 collection was a study in contrasts. Some evening dresses featured dramatically sculptural, full-skirted silhouettes. Other, slim-skirted designs included this brown\r\ncolumnar dress with horizontal gold strips. It shows off one of the collection’s most startling details, embroidered and padded round panels which accentuate the breasts.\n\nElsa Schiaparelli\r\nWinter 1935\r\nParis\r\nWool crêpe\r\nV&amp;A: T.36-1964\r\nGiven by Dorothy Otway Smithers","date":{"text":"2026","earliest":"2026-01-01","latest":"2026-12-31"}}],"partNumbers":["T.36-1964"],"accessionNumberNum":"36","accessionNumberPrefix":"T","accessionYear":1964,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-08-04","recordCreationDate":"2007-03-30","availableToBook":false}}