{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O65687"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O65687/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PG8061/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PG8061/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2025PG8061","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PG8064","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PG8062","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PG8065","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PG8063","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2021NB7106","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AP3334","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006BF7453","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AP3333","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AP3332","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AP3331","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AP3330","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AP3329","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2020MU2909","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2021MV0853","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O65687","accessionNumber":"T.394&A-1974","objectType":"Evening dress","titles":[{"title":"The Skeleton Dress","type":"assigned by artist"},{"title":"The Circus 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.  \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\nSchiaparelli's 'Skeleton' dress was created in collaboration with artist Salvador Dalí. The garment reflects her deep connections with the leading artists of the time and her ability to create designs that shocked. Schiaparelli exaggerated the usually delicate trapunto quilting technique to make 'bones' on the surface of the dress - the design was stitched in outline through two layers of fabric, then cotton wadding inserted through the back to bring the design into relief on the front. The shoulder seams and right side are closed by bold plastic zips. ","physicalDescription":"Black evening dress and petticoat of silk crêpe, with exaggerated trapunto quilting technique to make enormous 'bones'. The design was stitched in outline through two layers of fabric, then cotton wadding inserted through the back to bring  the design into relief on the front. The shoulder seams and right side are closed by bold plastic zips.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Elsa Schiaparelli","id":"A2375"},"association":{"text":"designer","id":"AAT25190"},"note":""},{"name":{"text":"Salvador Dalí","id":"N4635"},"association":{"text":"designer","id":"x36960"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"silk (textile)","id":"AAT243428"},{"text":"cotton","id":"AAT14067"}],"techniques":[{"text":"quilting","id":"AAT53656"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Silk crêpe, trapunto quilting, cotton wadding","categories":[{"text":"Clothing","id":"THES48975"},{"text":"Fashion","id":"THES48957"},{"text":"Evening wear","id":"THES48999"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&F","id":"THES48601"},"images":["2025PG8061","2025PG8064","2025PG8062","2025PG8065","2025PG8063","2021NB7106","2006AP3334","2006BF7453","2006AP3333","2006AP3332","2006AP3331","2006AP3330","2006AP3329","2020MU2909","2021MV0853"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"SR001","id":"THES404105"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"011","id":"THES309280"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Evening dress","id":""}],[{"text":"Petticoat","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Paris","id":"x29068"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1938","earliest":"1938-01-01","latest":"1938-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by Miss Ruth Ford","dimensions":[],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Dress featured in the \"Circus Collection\" of summer 1938, presented February 1938\n\nRef. Paris Centre de Documentation de Costume, <i>Schiaparelli, Album no 19</i>, 1938, p.128\n\nDonated by Ruth Ford\r\n\r\nA receipt from the Schiaparelli Paris couture house held by the archive at West Dean show that this dress was purchased for Ford by Edward James. \r\n\t\r\n<i>Photo Notes: \r\nTop bodice front: exposed zippers at the shoulder\r\nBodice front: shows the ribs and exposed zipper at the left\r\nNeck interior back: shows the interior of the spine (padded).  The spine facing has a rough and\r\nBodice back: vertebrae and ribs\r\nBack hip: seductive end of tailbone.  Does have a waist seam.  Below waist seam there is a triangular insert ending at the coccyx (very Jamesian). Two side zippers (4 zippers total on dress).</i>\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":"","briefDescription":"Evening dress and petticoat of silk crêpe, 'The Skeleton Dress', designed by Schiaparelli and Salvador Dalí, Paris, 1938.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Mendes, Valerie. <u>Black In Fashion</u>. London: V&A Publications, 1999."},{"reference":{"text":"<i>Fashion : An Anthology by Cecil Beaton</i>. London : H.M.S.O., 1971","id":"AUTH354373"},"details":"no. 225","free":""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"<i><b>Schiaparelli: Fashion Becomes Art</b></i><b> (March - November 2026)</b>\n\nExquisite corpse\n\nThe macabre beauty of skeletons fascinated the surrealists. Schiaparelli collaborated with artist Salvador Dalí on this dress, bringing a skeleton to life using the trapunto quilting technique, stitching the outline through two layers of fabric with wadding. The sheer material, combined with the padded spine, ribcage, collarbones and hip joints, suggests we are seeing the wearer’s own flesh and bones. This is the only known original of the Skeleton dress. In Dalí’s drawing skeletons pose like fashion models.\n\nSkeleton dress\r\nElsa Schiaparelli with Salvador Dalí\r\nSummer 1938, Circus collection\r\nParis\r\nSilk crêpe with plastic zips\r\nV&amp;A: T.394&amp;A-1974\r\nGiven by Ruth Ford\n\nSkeleton Woman\r\nSalvador Dalí\r\nAbout 1938\r\nParis\r\nInk and pencil on paper\r\nPatrimoine Schiaparelli, Paris","date":{"text":"2026","earliest":"2026-01-01","latest":"2026-12-31"}},{"text":"<i><b>Schiaparelli: Fashion Becomes Art</b></i><b> (March - November 2026)</b>\n\nBare bones\n\nThis dress, one of the most remarkable of Elsa Schiaparelli’s career, is indicative of her multi-faceted legacy. Her collaboration with Salvador Dalí reflects her deep connections with the leading artists of the time. The padded construction that shapes the dress’s deathly form exemplifies her predilection for employing unusual techniques to create designs that shocked.\n\nElsa Schiaparelli with Salvador Dalí\r\nSummer 1938, Circus collection\r\nParis\r\nSilk crêpe with plastic zips\r\nV&amp;A: T.394-1974\r\nGiven by Ruth Ford","date":{"text":"2026","earliest":"2026-01-01","latest":"2026-12-31"}}],"partNumbers":["T.394-1974","T.394A-1974"],"accessionNumberNum":"394","accessionNumberPrefix":"T","accessionYear":1974,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","Evening dress","Petticoat"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-08-21","recordCreationDate":"2002-05-27","availableToBook":false}}