Wearable Surrealism: The Legacy of Schiaparelli
Words by Charlotte Whitehill
Edited by Myfanwy Greene
Doja Cat’s bold look at Paris Fashion Week 2023, entitled ‘Doja’s Inferno’, consisted of 30,000 hand-applied crimson Swarovski crystals applied to her red, fully painted body. It was the epitome of live sculpture and described as “shimmering, scintillating and subversive”. Doja looked like a living sculpture, half-human, half-hallucination, where surrealism stepped out of the canvas and onto the carpet.
‘Doja’s Inferno’, Doja Cat, Paris Fashion Week 2023.
Image taken from BBC
Elsa Schiaparelli was arguably one of the most avant-garde fashion designers of the 20th century, known for her subversive, witty and ultimately iconic pieces. Her most iconic include ‘The Tears Dress’ and ‘Shoe Hat’. Schiaparelli delighted in shock, fantasy and play when creating her pieces; she didn’t see clothes as mere garments that one wears, but as performances intent on challenging the very conventions of fashion.
(Left) Salvador Dali photographed by Gala Dali in 1932, with a show on his head.
(Right) Elsa Schiaparelli, Shoe Hat, 1937-38.
Her collaborations with Salvador Dalí, one of the masters of surrealist art, are some of the most iconic examples of wearable surrealism. The two gave the fashion and art world a series of works that combined elegance with pure absurdity. The 1937 ‘Shoe Hat’, a high-heeled shoe worn upside down on the head, was one of Schiaparelli’s most playful and provocative designs, a comic disruption of sartorial norms. The idea came from a 1933 photograph of Dalí balancing a shoe on his head, a whimsical moment that both artists found compelling. More than just a quirky novelty, the hat was carefully crafted to shock and amuse, aligning with the surrealist movement's fascination with the bizarre and illogical. At a time when Schiaparelli was already celebrated for her daring creativity, ‘Shoe Hat’ became a defining example of her ability to use humour and push the boundaries of fashion’s capability and redefine its place in the art world.
Elsa Schiaparelli, The Tears Dress, 1938.
But perhaps the most striking of all (and a favourite of mine) was the 1938 ‘Skeleton Dress’, with padded ribs and a spine protruding from the fabric, a couture anatomy lesson that merged the body with the garment. The symbolic representation of mortality had an appeal to high fashion and subcultures due to its bold aesthetic. Schiaparelli’s designs captured the very essence of surrealism, the uncanny and dreamlike twists. As she famously remarked, “In difficult times, fashion is always outrageous.” To Schiaparelli, fashion was not simply about decoration, but a response to the world around it. Outrageous design meant more than bright colours or extreme silhouettes; it was a way to make bold statements and offer moments of escape. In this sense, her work became both a subconscious commentary on reality and a tool for reimagining it.
Elsa Schiaparelli, Skeleton Dress, 1938.
Skeleton Dress detail
Surrealism isn’t just being abstract and quirky for the sake of it. Surrealism aims to express the irrational and explore the subconscious mind. Surrealism in fashion often exaggerates and displaces the body. The padded skeleton bones create bulbous silhouettes that seem to grow and emerge from the body like alien forms. The embroidered illusions that make the fabric look three-dimensional are a trompe-l'œil (visual trickery). Schiaparelli also worked with notable artist Jean Cocteau to create jackets with faces and profiles appearing to emerge from the seams. She took the everyday fashion norm and made it into something fantastical. Surrealist fashion is a genre in itself, intersecting the space between fascination and discomfort.
Surrealist fashion didn’t start and end with Schiaparelli; if anything, her idea continues to thrive on today’s runways.
Daniel Roseberry, the creative director of the Schiaparelli House since 2019, has continued to create couture’s boldest spectacles. His creations continue to echo and pay homage to the original surrealist, his oversized gold-plated brooches shaped like lungs and eyes, corsets adorned with sculptural horns and gowns that blur into sculptures. Celebrities who have worn Schiaparelli have all gone viral as an extravagant public dream-theatre. Roseberry begs the question whether the works are fashion, sculpture or performance art? In my opinion, the answer is all of them!
Daniel Roseberry, Look 02, Fall-Winter 2021-2022.
Other avant-garde fashion houses also channel surrealism. Viktor&Rolf have sent models out in their iconic upside-down gowns, matching in absurdity. They embody the theatrical style, challenging traditional femininity through their execution and abstract surrealism, echoing the original controversy and debates that Schiaparelli once sparked about the purpose and subjectivity of fashion as art. These designers prove that surrealism isn’t just a genre that was once popular in the 20th century; they use it today as a language of exaggeration and provocation.
Viktor&Rolf, Paris Fashion Week Show 2023.
Surrealism isn’t about practicality and speaking directly to the realistic realms of the world; surrealism is about the endless possibilities and escapes, reminding us that the body and identity are fluid and that imagination can go far beyond what is fixed. Social media filters already distort how we see ourselves, and surrealist fashion feels extremely relevant in a digital world where reality and illusion are so easily blurred.
Schiaparelli’s surrealist legacy asks us to see clothing not just as fabric, but as fantasy. It is not just about covering the body, but about revealing the subconscious. Fashion is art that you can wear. There is no question of whether surrealism belongs with fashion; fashion without surrealism would never feel quite so alive.
