Visit Dali & Schiaparelli Exhibit
There is an exhibit called Dali & Schiaparelli that is running at the Dali Museum in St Petersburg from mid-October 2017 to mid-January 2018. I had the pleasure of seeing the exhibit in early December with my friends Teresa and Nancy. In 1936, Salvador Dali created his Lobster telephone. I took this photo on this visit.
Of the many collaborations between Elsa Schiaparelli and Salvador Dali, the lobster dress is, without a doubt, the most famous.
On this summer gown for the Schiaparelli Summer 1937 Haute Couture collection, he designed a lobster motif strewn with sprigs of parsley printed on white organdy. According to legend, Dali wanted to apply real mayonnaise on the dress, but Schiaparelli refused.
This dress was immortalized by Wallis Simpson. They had a display of her in the dress that I have included here...
It was among the 18 pieces of the trousseau that Elsa Schiaparelli had designed for her on the occasion of her marriage to the Duke de Windsor. The latter abdicated the British crown for love of this woman. The future Duchess created a scandal in this dress, in particular through Cecil Beaton's photographs published in Vogue. Indeed, the placement of the shellfish conferred an erotic charge on the garment and contrasted with the virginal white of the organdy.
I should mention the sofa on the left is another Salvador Dali creation from 1937. It was shaped after the lips of actress Mae West, whom Dalà apparently found fascinating.
There was a new version of the lobster dress presented in Paris this year, 80 years after the original dress. They had this at the museum too and I caught a photo of the update...
Elsa Schiaparelli (1890–1973) was an Italian fashion designer. Along with Coco Chanel, her greatest rival, she is regarded as one of the most prominent figures in fashion between the two World Wars. Starting with knitwear, Schiaparelli's designs were heavily influenced by Surrealists like her collaborators Salvador Dalà and Jean Cocteau. Her clients included the heiress Daisy Fellowes and actress Mae West. Schiaparelli did not adapt to the changes in fashion following World War II and her couture house closed in 1954.
Her is one of her dresses, a collaboration with Jean Cocteau. Do you see an urn with flowers or two people kissing? Nice optical illusion...
Reading about Elsa, I found that Schiaparelli's two granddaughters, from her daughter's marriage to shipping executive Robert L. Berenson, were model Marisa Berenson and photographer Berry Berenson. I remember Marisa well from her lead role in the movie Barry Lyndon with Ryan O'Neal and directed by Stanley Kubrick. The cinematography from that movie influenced me to do photography.
The other daughter Berry (Berinthia), was married to actor Anthony Perkins, and she died on 9/11 as a passenger on the American Airlines flight that crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. That is just tragic.
Teresa (left) and Nancy (in black) enjoy the art of Dali & Schiaparelli...
Close-up of the art to Nancy's right in above photo...
Sorry I do not know what it is, but I think it is connected to the next dress.
The butterfly was the Surrealist symbol for change, particularly the change from ugly to beautiful. As the unlovely caterpillar morphs into the brilliant colorful butterfly, so Schiaparelli's designs could transform the ordinary into the extraordinary. Many of her clients were women who did not possess the accepted standard of beauty, but rather a more striking sort of chic, such as the Duchess of Windsor and Millicent Rogers, and Schiaparelli's artistic designs were perfectly suited to assist in developing their particular versions of style and beauty.
BJ's selfie. Look how skinny I am!!!
Sabine Ghanem married Joseph Getty, son of Mark Getty and grandson of Sir John Paul Getty, in a Catholic ceremony at the Basilica of the Twelve Apostles in Rome on May 30, 2015. Her dress was a custom made haute couture gown by Schiaparelli with a hooded cloak designed by Lesage and Charlotte Olympia heels.
The wedding dress from behind...
The wedding dress from the side with a Dali artwork behind
I am not a big fan of the latest designers of clothes, but it was fun to see how a designer could be influenced by a artist, and have that influence still being used almost 80 years later.
Of the many collaborations between Elsa Schiaparelli and Salvador Dali, the lobster dress is, without a doubt, the most famous.
This dress was immortalized by Wallis Simpson. They had a display of her in the dress that I have included here...
It was among the 18 pieces of the trousseau that Elsa Schiaparelli had designed for her on the occasion of her marriage to the Duke de Windsor. The latter abdicated the British crown for love of this woman. The future Duchess created a scandal in this dress, in particular through Cecil Beaton's photographs published in Vogue. Indeed, the placement of the shellfish conferred an erotic charge on the garment and contrasted with the virginal white of the organdy.
I should mention the sofa on the left is another Salvador Dali creation from 1937. It was shaped after the lips of actress Mae West, whom Dalà apparently found fascinating.
There was a new version of the lobster dress presented in Paris this year, 80 years after the original dress. They had this at the museum too and I caught a photo of the update...
Her is one of her dresses, a collaboration with Jean Cocteau. Do you see an urn with flowers or two people kissing? Nice optical illusion...
Reading about Elsa, I found that Schiaparelli's two granddaughters, from her daughter's marriage to shipping executive Robert L. Berenson, were model Marisa Berenson and photographer Berry Berenson. I remember Marisa well from her lead role in the movie Barry Lyndon with Ryan O'Neal and directed by Stanley Kubrick. The cinematography from that movie influenced me to do photography.
The other daughter Berry (Berinthia), was married to actor Anthony Perkins, and she died on 9/11 as a passenger on the American Airlines flight that crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. That is just tragic.
Venus de Milo with Drawers
One of the statues displayed was the Venus de Milo with Drawers, done by Dali in 1936.
The Tears Dress
Savage rips and tears cover Elsa Schiaparelli's slender evening gown and head-veil. A closer look reveals the illusion. The dress is printed, and the rips in the veil have been carefully cut out and lined in pink and magenta. The trompe l'oeil (illusionistic) 'Tears' print was specially designed by Schiaparelli's friend, the artist Salvador Dali. Some of his Surrealist paintings showed figures in ripped skin-tight clothing, disturbingly suggestive of flayed flesh.
Teresa (left) and Nancy (in black) enjoy the art of Dali & Schiaparelli...
Close-up of the art to Nancy's right in above photo...
Sorry I do not know what it is, but I think it is connected to the next dress.
Skeleton Dress
Dalà also helped Schiaparelli design the Skeleton Dress for the Circus Collection. It was a stark black crepe dress which used trapunto quilting to create padded ribs, spine, and leg bones. I hope you wear a slip...
The butterfly was the Surrealist symbol for change, particularly the change from ugly to beautiful. As the unlovely caterpillar morphs into the brilliant colorful butterfly, so Schiaparelli's designs could transform the ordinary into the extraordinary. Many of her clients were women who did not possess the accepted standard of beauty, but rather a more striking sort of chic, such as the Duchess of Windsor and Millicent Rogers, and Schiaparelli's artistic designs were perfectly suited to assist in developing their particular versions of style and beauty.
BJ's selfie. Look how skinny I am!!!
Sabine Ghanem married Joseph Getty, son of Mark Getty and grandson of Sir John Paul Getty, in a Catholic ceremony at the Basilica of the Twelve Apostles in Rome on May 30, 2015. Her dress was a custom made haute couture gown by Schiaparelli with a hooded cloak designed by Lesage and Charlotte Olympia heels.
The wedding dress from behind...
The wedding dress from the side with a Dali artwork behind
I am not a big fan of the latest designers of clothes, but it was fun to see how a designer could be influenced by a artist, and have that influence still being used almost 80 years later.
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