{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O75194"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O75194/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PD4611/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PD4611/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2025PD4611","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PD4618","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PD4624","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PD4619","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PD4622","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PD4623","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PD4633","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2015HK3738","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2015HK3744","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2015HK3740","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2015HK3741","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2015HK3742","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2015HK3743","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2015HK3739","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AU0517","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AL0564","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O75194","accessionNumber":"T.399&A-1974","objectType":"Evening suit","titles":[{"title":"Pagan","type":"named collection"}],"summaryDescription":"This stylish ensemble was worn by Lady Alexandra Dacre (then Lady Alexandra Haig) at a masked carol party in December 1938. It was designed by Elsa Schiaparelli (1890-1973). Schiaparelli was born in Rome. She studied philosophy, spent her early married life in the USA in Boston and New York, and in 1920 moved to Paris. One of her first designs, a black sweater knitted with a white bow to give a <i>trompe-l'œil</i> (trick of the eye) effect, was seen by a store buyer and subsequent orders put her into business. In 1928 she opened a shop called Pour le Sport. Her own salon followed a year later.  \r\n\r\nSchiaparelli was famed for her attractive and wittily designed evening ensembles. Her clothes were smart, sophisticated and often wildly eccentric, but she had a huge following. Her ideas, coupled with those she commissioned from famous artists, were carried out with considerable skill. Salvador Dalí, Christian Bérard and Jean Cocteau, for example, designed fabrics and accessories. Jean Schlumberger produced costume jewellery and buttons. Cubism and Surrealism influenced her designs. She used tweed to make evening wear and hessian for dresses. She dyed furs, put padlocks on suits and created a vogue for Tyrolean peasant costume.  \r\n\r\nIn 1935 she dyed plastic zippers the same colour as her fabrics and then positioned them in exposed places rather than concealing them as dress closings, making their use both decorative and functional. This bias-cut dress, for example, fastens at the side with a bold plastic 'Lightning' zip.","physicalDescription":"Evening ensemble consisting of satin dress and jacket.\r\nBlack jacket of satin backed marocain, with long sleeves. It is fitted, collarless and single-breasted with two gathered patch pockets. It front fastens with a row of five composition buttons in black, cast in the shape of leaves. The neck edge is decorated with a bold embroidered pattern of curving leafy stems in raised work - two types of flat gold gilt over other metallic threads - pink glass beads and rows of diamantés. The large leaves overlap the neck edge and shoulder seam. The 'leg of mutton' sleeves are wide at the top and gathered into the armhole. Lined throughout in black crêpe-de-Chine.\r\nLong black dress in satin backed marocain. It is sleeveless and slim fitting, cut to flare at the bottom. The front has two raised darts under the bust and the low V neck is decorated with a ruffle. The back is low and square with a shirred bodice. The dress side fastens at the left with a bold black plastic 'Lightning' zip made by ICI. ","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Elsa Schiaparelli","id":"A2375"},"association":{"text":"designer","id":"x36960"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"rayon","id":"AAT14059"},{"text":"satin","id":"AAT132902"},{"text":"metal thread","id":"x30421"},{"text":"beads","id":"x32809"},{"text":"diamante","id":"x33303"},{"text":"crepe","id":"AAT183741"}],"techniques":[{"text":"sewing","id":"AAT53658"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Rayon marocain, backed with satin, embroidered with various gilt threads, beads and diamantés, lined in crêpe-de-Chine","categories":[{"text":"Evening wear","id":"THES48999"},{"text":"Embroidery","id":"THES48960"},{"text":"Fashion","id":"THES48957"},{"text":"Womenswear","id":"THES49044"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&F","id":"THES48601"},"images":["2025PD4611","2025PD4618","2025PD4624","2025PD4619","2025PD4622","2025PD4623","2025PD4633","2015HK3738","2015HK3744","2015HK3740","2015HK3741","2015HK3742","2015HK3743","2015HK3739","2006AU0517","2006AL0564"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"SAINS","id":"THES276095"},"free":"","case":"FIG081","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"SAINS","id":"THES276095"},"free":"","case":"FIG081","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Evening jacket","id":""}],[{"text":"Evening dress","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1938-1939","earliest":"1938-10-01","latest":"1939-02-28"},"association":{"text":"designed","id":"x29338"},"note":"fall/winter"}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by Lady Alexandra Trevor-Roper","dimensions":[],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"Label printed in black on white petersham 'Schiaparelli London' with the number '6313'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"evening jacket"},{"content":"Bottom right back seam has the 'Schiaparelli London' label with the number '6313'.","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"evening dress"}],"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\nAnother version of this jacket is held by the Metropolitan Museum, New York. (Met Museum number 1974.338.4)\n\n\n\tPhoto notes: \r\nCollar front: leaves are encroaching upon the neckline and neck.  Leaf shaped buttons.  Likely from the Pagan collection (1938).\r\n\t\r\n\tPocket detail: pouch shaped pockets at the bottom\r\n\tFront: Classic padded shoulders.  Very classic Schiaparelli dinner suit\r\n\r\nJan G. Reeder, Curator, The Costume Institute, The Metropolitan Museum of Art\r\nTaken May, 2011, Compiled September, 2011\r\n","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Evening ensemble consisting of satin dress and jacket, designed by Schiaparelli, London, fall 1938. (Pagan Collection).","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["T.399A-1974","T.399-1974"],"accessionNumberNum":"399","accessionNumberPrefix":"T","accessionYear":1974,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","Evening jacket","Evening dress"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-03-10","recordCreationDate":"2003-02-25","availableToBook":false}}