Medium: Fuchsia silk crepe, jet seed beads, and sequins

Date: 1939

Country: France

Credit: Gift of Theodora Pierce

This dress exemplifies two quintessentially Schiaparelli design components; the first being her propensity for bold, bright colors such as this, her trademark "shocking pink," and the second, her clever incorporation of Surrealism in her fashions. Of the famous color innovation, designer Yves Saint Laurent once wrote, "she alone could have given to a pink the nerve of a red." Schiaparelli did not shy away from the daring, the playful, the unusual or the unexpected, as evidenced in the textile's black fly pattern composed of jet seed beads and sequins. Naturalistic themes were not uncommon in Schiaparelli's work, nor was her use of insect motifs, which are strongly featured in some of her most memorable Surrealist designs. Dress is shown with gloves, 92.154.10

Object Number: 87.70.3