Button
These intriguing ornamental buttons are strikingly similar to the form of the bottle of the perfume "Sleeping," introduced for Schiaparelli's summer 1940 collection. The bottle was shaped like a lighted candle emerging from a floral-shaped base and perhaps these ornamental buttons were a precursor to the final perfume bottle design, or a stylized version of it. Schiaparelli used her buttons as an avenue for creative expression. They were often in unexpected shapes made of unusual and avant-garde materials such as the plastic, glass, painted metal alloy and wire of this example. They complemented her suit jackets with the perfect dose of Surrealist commentary.
Artwork Details
- Title: Button
- Design House: Schiaparelli (French, founded 1927)
- Designer: Elsa Schiaparelli (Italian, 1890–1973)
- Maker: Attributed to Jean Clément (French, 1900–1949)
- Maker: Attributed to Roger Jean-Pierre (French, active 1934–1976)
- Date: 1938
- Culture: French
- Medium: glass, metal, plastic
- Credit Line: Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Arturo and Paul Peralta-Ramos, 1955
- Object Number: 2009.300.1501a, b
- Curatorial Department: The Costume Institute
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Schiaparelli
Elsa Schiaparelli
fall/winter 1937–38
Schiaparelli
Elsa Schiaparelli
summer 1940
Schiaparelli
Elsa Schiaparelli
1936–37
Schiaparelli
Elsa Schiaparelli
fall 1937
Schiaparelli
Elsa Schiaparelli
ca. 1938
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