A selection of eight dramatic and impeccably crafted garments designed by artistic director Daniel Roseberry, form the new display now open at the gallery in Melbourne.
Drawn from recent couture collections, the works are displayed alongside a gleaming selection of Schiaparelli jewellery and accessories.
Roseberry has served as artistic director for the fashion house, known for it’s head-tuning surrealist elements, since his debut collection for Schiaparelli in July 2019.
Created by avant-garde Italian fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli (1890–1973) in 1927, the designer, and subsequently her label captured the world with a wild imagination and revolutionary approach to fashion.
Schiaparelli is best known for transforming ordinary objects into some of the most memorable fashion and accessory creations, like the famous “lobster dress” detailed by surrealist painter Salvador Dalí and her “shoe hat,” a hat in the shape of an upside down high heel.
The NGV Triennial presentation highlights Roseberry’s interest in pushing the boundaries of couture practice, his belief in fantasy and his view that art and fashion can question, shape and address the concerns of contemporary life. The works on display reflect the intersections between his contemporary vision for Maison Schiaparelli and the design codes and legacy of founder Elsa Schiaparelli.
Highlights include Look 25, Nuage (cloud) dress from the Transformations autumn-winter 2019 collection. Meters of billowing and ballooning fabric defy physics to create a cloud-like illusion.
Look 15, dress, also on display, references founder Elsa Schiaparelli’s signature colour – shocking pink – which she adopted from 1937. The work also pays homage to Schiaparelli’s embrace of the uncanny and surreal, with metres and metres of fabric seemingly suspended from large hoop earrings.
NGV Triennial 2023 is on display from 3 December 2023 – 7 April 2024 at NGV International, Melbourne. Entry is free.
