Evening jacket
Designer Elsa Schiaparelli Italian
Jean Cocteau French
House of Lesage French
Not on view
Elsa Schiaparelli was a well-born Italian designer who made her mark in Paris from the late 1920s to the 1950s. Her initial success was based on a trompe-l'oeil sweater with the illusion of a knotted cravat, but she quickly moved from designing knitwear to the establishment of a couture house, where she continued to play with whimsical Dada- and Surrealist-inflected conceits. Schiaparelli's collaborations with artists resulted in some of the most renowned works of twentieth-century haute couture. A jacket with dresser drawers for pockets, her notorious "Shoe Hat," and a provocative "Bug Necklace" came from her partnership with Salvador Dalí. An evening coat embroidered in a pattern that reads simultaneously as a vase and two confronting faces and this jacket, with its trompe-l'oeil profile, were products of her collaboration with Jean Cocteau. Although she is best remembered for these playful works, they appear to have been ordered by a limited number of clients, and most of the surviving examples are from Schiaparelli's own collection. This jacket is therefore a particularly serendipitous discovery, having been only recently sold by the family of a client who was clearly enamored of the designer's more assertive and signature work.
Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
This artwork is meant to be viewed from right to left. Scroll left to view more.