This March, the Victoria and Albert Museum makes history. For the first time in the United Kingdom, the house of Schiaparelli takes center stage in a major exhibition that celebrates the designer who always insisted her work belonged in an art gallery, not just a wardrobe.

Schiaparelli: Fashion Becomes Art, opening 28 March in the Sainsbury Gallery, is a landmark moment for British fashion culture. Running until 8 November, the exhibition brings together over 400 objects—from 100 complete ensembles to 50 artworks, accessories, and archival treasures—to tell the story of a woman who turned fashion into a form of rebellion.

Elsa Schiaparelli herself set the tone nearly a century ago: “For me, dress designing is not a profession but an art.” Now, the V&A is proving her right.

The Woman Who Dared to Dream with Dali

Walk through the galleries and you will encounter the stuff of fashion legend. The 1938 Skeleton Dress, haunting in its precision. The Tears Dress, draped in surrealist sorrow. A hat shaped like an upside-down shoe, equal parts whimsy and wonder. These are the creations that defined Schiaparelli—works conceived in close collaboration with artists like Salvador Dalí, Jean Cocteau, and Man Ray.

Rather than keeping fashion and art in separate rooms, the exhibition places them side by side. Here, Dalí’s famous Lobster Telephone hangs near the 1937 Lobster Dress it inspired. There, Cocteau’s drawings accompany an evening coat embroidered with his mirrored profiles forming a vase of roses. It is a meeting of minds that feels as electric today as it did in 1930s Paris.

Tristram Hunt, Director of the V&A, calls the exhibition a long-overdue celebration: “Schiaparelli is one of the most ingenious and daring designers in fashion history. The V&A holds the foremost collection of her garments in Britain, so it is only right that we give her this spectacular showcase.”

More Than Paris, A Love Letter to London

Schiaparelli is often remembered as the grande dame of Parisian couture, but this exhibition makes space for another story: her deep connection to London.

When she opened her Mayfair salon in 1933, she became a fixture of British society, dressing the city’s most daring women and finding a natural home among the surrealists crossing the Channel. A sumptuous burgundy velvet suit bearing the “Schiaparelli London” label speaks to that moment, as does a wedding dress worn at Golders Green Synagogue—the only known surviving example of a Schiaparelli bridal design.

Then there are the costumes. Schiaparelli dressed Mae West for the screen and tailored the sharply cut trouser suits that Marlene Dietrich made famous. In an era when women were expected to choose between elegance and ease, Schiaparelli quietly insisted they could have both.

The Thread That Connects Then to Now

The exhibition closes with a look at the present, and what a thrilling revival it has been. Since 2019, creative director Daniel Roseberry has been steering the house into a new golden age, channeling Schiaparelli’s original audacity into designs that dominate red carpets and define the cultural moment.

Visitors will see the shimmering gown Ariana Grande wore to the 2025 Oscars, the black-and-gold Skeleton Dress reimagined for Dua Lipa at the 2024 Golden Globes, and the unforgettable Spring Summer 2024 look that paired a white vest and cargo trousers with a bedazzled robot baby. It is surrealism for the 21st century, and it proves that Schiaparelli’s spirit never went away—it was simply waiting for the right moment to return.

Delphine Bellini, CEO of Schiaparelli, describes the exhibition as a homecoming: “The Victoria and Albert Museum offers the perfect setting to showcase her legacy alongside Daniel Roseberry’s creations, which carry her surrealist spirit forward. Together, they blur the lines with bold, sculptural designs that honour her vision while reinventing it for a new century.”

For the Fashion Devotee

For Emirates Woman readers who appreciate the intersection of heritage and audacity, this exhibition is essential viewing. It is a chance to see how one woman’s refusal to follow the rules shaped not just fashion, but the way we think about creativity itself.

Coco Chanel once dismissed her as “that Italian artist who’s making clothes.” A century later, that artist is finally having her moment—and the V&A is giving her the stage she always deserved.

Schiaparelli: Fashion Becomes Art runs from 28 March to 8 November 2026 at V&A South Kensington. vam.ac.uk

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Images: Supplied & Feature Image: Supplied