{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O85668"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O85668/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PG9843/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PG9843/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2025PG9843","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PG9842","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PG9844","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PG9845","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PG9846","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AL1367","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AL1368","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O85668","accessionNumber":"T.52-1965","objectType":"Evening coat","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\nThis evening coat made of red grosgrain was designed by Elsa Schiaparelli for her Summer 1939 Bustle collection. It is floor length with a straight front and wide self-faced edges, and has a narrow band collar and wide straight sleeves and padded shoulders. The back of the coat is fitted as far as the waist where it becomes a wide inverted pleat extending into a train. A button, with a small mother of pearl flower centre, is stitched at the top of the pleat. Half way down the train is a 'fleur de lys'-shaped loop, which when attached to the button, holds the train up to give a bustle effect. This coat is an example of the historicism which prevailed in fashion at the end of the 1930s, when fashion designers reinterprated the shapes of the leg-of-mutton shoulders and bustles of the 1880s. ","physicalDescription":"Long evening coat made of red silk grosgrain. It is floor length with a straight front and wide self-faced edges, and has a narrow band collar and wide straight sleeves with a slightly pleated head into padded shoulders. The back of the coat is seamed to fit as far as the waist where it becomes two wide cross cut panels forming a wide inverted pleat extending into a train. A button, covered with matching silk, bound with white metal and a small mother of pearl flower central is stitched at the top of the pleat. Half way down the train is a self material 'fleur de lys' shaped loop which when attached to the button loops the train shifts up in a trained bustle effect. The coat is lined with a slightly darker silk.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Elsa Schiaparelli","id":"A2375"},"association":{"text":"designer","id":"x36960"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"grosgrain","id":"x32508"},{"text":"silk (textile)","id":"AAT243428"}],"techniques":[{"text":"machine sewing","id":"AAT257463"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Silk grosgrain, lined in silk, metal, mother of pearl","categories":[{"text":"Fashion","id":"THES48957"},{"text":"Textiles","id":"THES48885"},{"text":"Womenswear","id":"THES49044"},{"text":"Evening wear","id":"THES48999"}],"styles":[{"text":"Art Deco","id":"AAT21426"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&F","id":"THES48601"},"images":["2025PG9843","2025PG9842","2025PG9844","2025PG9845","2025PG9846","2006AL1367","2006AL1368"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"SAINS","id":"THES276095"},"free":"","case":"FIG050","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Coat","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Paris","id":"x29068"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1939","earliest":"1939-01-01","latest":"1939-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by Madame Elsa Schiaparelli","dimensions":[],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'18298'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"on the reverse of the label, stitched below the right arm.","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"On the reverse of the label, stitched below the right arm."},{"content":"Schiaparelli, 21 Place Vendome, Paris, Automne 1940","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"On label stitched below the right arm."}],"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.  ","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Long evening coat made of silk grosgrain, designed by Elsa Schiaparelli, Paris, 1939","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"Summer 1939","productionType":{"text":"Haute couture","id":"THES48861"},"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\nEvening coat\n\nIn response to the looming threat of war, Schiaparelli’s Summer 1939 collection captured a retrograde mood. Her reprise of the 19th-century bustle resulted in a focus on the back of garments, with the House announcing, ‘Fullness appears cunningly in unexpected places’. In this evening coat, volume is achieved with a train which can be fastened into bustle-like gathers.\n\nElsa Schiaparelli\r\nSummer 1939, Bustle collection\r\nParis\r\nSilk grosgrain\r\nV&amp;A: T.52-1965\r\nGiven by Elsa Schiaparelli","date":{"text":"2026","earliest":"2026-01-01","latest":"2026-12-31"}}],"partNumbers":["T.52-1965"],"accessionNumberNum":"52","accessionNumberPrefix":"T","accessionYear":1965,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-08-04","recordCreationDate":"2003-11-13","availableToBook":false}}