{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O88482"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O88482/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2026PM9430/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2026PM9430/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2026PM9430","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2026PM9429","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2013GA0575","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006BF2942","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O88482","accessionNumber":"T.51-1965","objectType":"Evening jacket","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"Elsa Schiaparelli often used classic tailored jackets as a perfect foil for her gloriously adventurous embroideries. Her clothes were smart, sophisticated and often wildly eccentric, and she had a huge following. Her ideas, coupled with designs 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. Art movements such as 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 popularised Tyrolean peasant costume.  \r\n\r\nThis jacket shows how Schiaparelli used historical and traditional embroideries, including magnificent ecclesiastical vestments, as sources of inspiration. Its resplendent appeal lies in the rich juxtaposition of shining metal embroidery set against the dark, imperial purple velvet.  The large-scale floral pattern is worked in tinted metal strips over thick pads. A typical Schiaparelli touch is the button moulded in the shape of a swan which fastens the jacket fronts together. \r\n\r\nSchiaparelli's creations illustrate her wholehearted efforts to unite the best of the fine and decorative arts. She breathed new life into largely forgotten skills to achieve stunning effects. She was fearless and used deliberately provocative combinations of old and new techniques and materials.","physicalDescription":"Evening jacket of embroidered purple silk velvet with tinted metal strips. Fitted and is hip length. It has wide pointed front revers reaching to the waist where the jacket fastens with a swan of carved composition  over a brass metal hook and bar. The revers and forearms are covered with a formal floral pattern in padded lilac strip embroidery. The jacket is lined with purple silk crêpe.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Elsa Schiaparelli","id":"A2375"},"association":{"text":"designer","id":"x36960"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"silk (textile)","id":"AAT243428"},{"text":"velvet","id":"AAT133711"},{"text":"crepe","id":"AAT183741"},{"text":"metal","id":"AAT10900"}],"techniques":[{"text":"embroidering","id":"AAT53653"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Embroidered silk velvet with tinted metal strips, lined with silk crêpe, carved composition, brass","categories":[{"text":"Fashion","id":"THES48957"},{"text":"Womenswear","id":"THES49044"},{"text":"Textiles","id":"THES48885"},{"text":"Embroidery","id":"THES48960"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&F","id":"THES48601"},"images":["2026PM9430","2026PM9429","2013GA0575","2006BF2942"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"SAINS","id":"THES276095"},"free":"","case":"FIG062","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Jacket","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"France","id":"x28849"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"late 1937","earliest":"1937-06-01","latest":"1937-12-31"},"association":{"text":"designed","id":"x29338"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by Madame Elsa Schiaparelli","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Length","value":"520","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"15/07/2025","earliest":"2025-07-15","latest":"2025-07-15"},"part":"Nape to hem","note":"Measured by textile conservation"},{"dimension":"Width","value":"330","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"15/07/2025","earliest":"2025-07-15","latest":"2025-07-15"},"part":"Back between sleeve seams","note":"Measured by textile conservation"},{"dimension":"Circumference","value":"715","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"15/07/2025","earliest":"2025-07-15","latest":"2025-07-15"},"part":"Waist at button","note":"Measured by textile conservation"}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"Schiaparelli label","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"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.  \r\n\nThis Jacket was donated to the Victoria and Albert Museum by Elsa Schiaparelli.\n\r\nPublished pg. 120 Modern Fashion in Detail\n\r\nMet has a similar jacket (museum number: 2009.300.1167a)\r\n\tPhoto Notes: \r\n\tButton detail: swan button \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 jacket of embroidered silk velvet, designed by Elsa Schiaparelli, France, Winter 1937-38","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["T.51-1965"],"accessionNumberNum":"51","accessionNumberPrefix":"T","accessionYear":1965,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-05-06","recordCreationDate":"2004-01-06","availableToBook":false}}