The Musée des Arts Décoratifs will host the exhibition "Shocking chic. Les mondes surréalistes by Elsa Schiaparelli", on display from 6 July to 23 January 2023. After paying tribute to Thierry Mugler, recently passed away, with an exhibition inaugurated last September, the Parisian institution will highlight the designer's visionary spirit. The exhibition, curated by Olivier Gabet (Museum Director) and Marie-Sophie Carron de la Carrière (Chief Curator), will celebrate the bold and exciting creations of Italian couturière Elsa Schiaparelli (b. September 10th, 1890, Rome – d. November 13th, 1973, Paris) who drew much of her inspiration from her close ties to the Parisian avant-garde of the 1920s and 1930s. Nearly 20 years since the last retrospective devoted to Schiaparelli at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, the time has come to revisit the extraordinary designer’s work, her innovative sense of feminine style, her sophisticated, often eccentric designs, and the thrill that she brought to the world of fashion.

Displayed on two levels, the exhibition is organized both thematically and chronologically around key moments in the career of Elsa Schiaparelli, linking her most remarkable collections from year to year with the works of friends and contemporaries who inspired her fashion designs. The retrospective brings together 520 works including 272 silhouettes and accessories by Schiaparelli herself, displayed alongside iconic paintings, sculptures, jewelry, perfumes, ceramics, posters, and photographs by the likes of Schiaparelli’s dear friends and contemporaries, including Man Ray, Salvador Dalí, Jean Cocteau, Meret Oppenheim and Elsa Triolet. “Shocking ! Les mondes surréalistes d’Elsa Schiaparelli” will also showcase creations designed in honor of Schiaparelli by fashion icons including Yves Saint Laurent, Azzedine Alaïa, John Galliano and Christian Lacroix. Daniel Roseberry, artistic director of the House of Schiaparelli since 2019, also boldly interprets the heritage of Elsa Schiaparelli with a design of his own. The exhibition will be presented in the Christine & Stephen A. Schwarzman fashion galleries of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, in a setting directed by Nathalie Crinière.

Shocking ! Les mondes surréalistes d’Elsa Schiaparelli

Shocking chic. Les mondes surréalistes by Elsa Schiaparelli
6 July – 23 January 2023
Musée des Arts Décoratifs
107 Rue de Rivoli – 75001, Paris

Photo: Horst P Horst, Vogue USA, March 15th, 1937 © Horst P. Horst, Vogue / Condé Nast (courtesy Musée des arts décoratifs)