{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O183849"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O183849/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PG0434/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PG0434/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2025PG0434","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006BK4755","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006BK4756","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006BK4757","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006BK4759","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O183849","accessionNumber":"T.2-2009","objectType":"Hat","titles":[{"title":"Shoe Hat","type":""}],"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.  \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 avant-garde, 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\nSchiaparelli's Shoe hat of 1937-38 is the best known of the surrealist pieces made in collaboration with Dalí. The hat derived from a drawing by Dalí, which in turn evolved from a 1933 photograph Gala Dalí took of her husband wearing a woman's shoe on his head and another on his right shoulder. Schiaparelli created her most directly surrealist works with Dalí. This includes, in addition to the Shoe hat design, the Tear dress (T.393-1974) and the Skeleton dress (T.394-1974) both from Schiaparelli's Circus collection of Summer 1938 and now in the V&A's permanent collection.","physicalDescription":"Hat of blue wool felt in the shape of a shoe, with fuchsia pink velvet heel.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Schiaparelli, Elsa","id":"A2375"},"association":{"text":"designer","id":"x36960"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"felt","id":"AAT14107"},{"text":"Silk velvet","id":"x36821"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Wool felt and silk velvet","categories":[{"text":"Fashion","id":"THES48957"},{"text":"Accessories","id":"THES48998"},{"text":"Hats and headwear","id":"THES48943"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&F","id":"THES48601"},"images":["2025PG0434","2006BK4755","2006BK4756","2006BK4757","2006BK4759"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"SAINS","id":"THES276095"},"free":"","case":"CA007","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Hat","id":"AAT46106"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"France","id":"x28849"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1937-1938","earliest":"1937-01-01","latest":"1938-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Length","value":"32","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"26","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"This hat belonged to Gala Dalí and was inherited by her daughter Cecile Eluard. The Museum purchased it from a friend of Cecile Eluard, to whom it had been given.\r\n\r\nPurchased by the V&A in 2009 [Registered File: 2008/702]\r\n","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Shoe hat, designed by Elsa Schiaparelli with Salvador Dalí, 1937-38","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"Limited edition","id":"THES48862"},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"shoes","id":"AAT46065"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"<i><b>Schiaparelli: Fashion Becomes Art</b></i><b> (March - November 2026)</b>\n\nHead over heels\n\nSurrealism turned the world on its head. Allowing the subconscious mind to express itself, surrealism explored the erotic potential of clothing from head to toe. The Shoe hat was inspired by Gala Dalí placing a shoe on her husband, Salvador’s, head. Gala owned this version of the hat with a Shocking Pink heel, while others are completely black. She posed for a photograph in the Shoe hat alongside Dalí’s mannequin-like sculpture, Retrospective Bust of a Woman.\n\nShoe hat\r\nElsa Schiaparelli with Salvador Dalí\r\n1937–38\r\nParis\r\nWool felt, silk velvet\r\nV&A: T.2-2009\n","date":{"text":"2026","earliest":"2026-01-01","latest":"2026-12-31"}}],"partNumbers":["T.2-2009"],"accessionNumberNum":"2","accessionNumberPrefix":"T","accessionYear":2009,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-08-10","recordCreationDate":"2009-01-20","availableToBook":false}}