Hat

Elsa Schiaparelli

winter 1937–38 · wool · Costume Institute

Schiaparelli's collaboration with Salvador Dali reached the height of Surrealist absurdity in this high-heeled shoe from winter, 1937-38. The idea for it, as recounted in Dilys Blum's authoritative book on the designer, was a photograph of Salvador Dali wearing a shoe on his head and another on his shoulder taken by his wife in 1933. The hat was made to wear with a black dress and jacket embroidered with red lips which were suggestive of those belonging to of the voluptuous actress Mae West for whom Schiaparelli was designing movie costumes at the time.

Artist

Elsa Schiaparelli

Date

winter 1937–38

Medium

wool

Culture

French

Department

Costume Institute

Credit line

Gift of Rose Messing, 1974