- 3 minutes ago
Director: Drue BisleyDirector Of Photography: Scarlett GardnerEditor: Katie Wolford Producer: Rashida JosiahAssociate Producer: Anisa Kennar Assistant Camera: Darius WilliamsGaffer: Will ChurchillSpark: Laura Salagnac Audio: Caiman WilliamsonRunner: Luke OsayHair & Makeup Artist: Nohelia Reyes Production Coordinator: Tanía JonesProduction Manager: Kristen HelmickSenior Production Manager: Venita Singh-WarnerLine Producer: Natasha Soto-Albors Assistant Editor: Andy MorellPost Production Coordinator: Holly FrewSupervising Editor: Kameron KeyPost Production Supervisor: Alexa Deutsch Executive Producer: Rahel GebreyesSenior Director, Digital Video: Romy van den BroekeSenior Director, Programming: Linda GittlesonVP, Video Programming: Thespena Guatieri Filmed on Location: V&A South KensingtonImages Courtesy of: Emil Larsson
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PeopleTranscript
00:04Hi, I'm Chao Munardi, Head of Editorial Content of British Vogue.
00:08And I'm Daniel Roseberry, Creative Director of Schiaparelli.
00:11And we're here at the V&A for a truly fantastic exhibition.
00:15It's called Schiaparelli, Fashion Becomes Art.
00:17And these are our objects of affection.
00:27So here we are, we're sitting in front of Elsa Schiaparelli's first garment, basically.
00:32She made this trompe l'oeil bow-nut sweater in 1927.
00:36And everything kind of came from this.
00:39It speaks so much to her modern perspective on the woman's wardrobe.
00:45The legend is that she wore this one to a lunch at the Ritz.
00:51Okay.
00:52Caused a sensation.
00:54Wow.
00:55For me, I'd always associated her with trompe l'oeil,
00:58but I actually didn't know that it was something quite as simplistic.
01:02Totally.
01:02But I think that's probably the impact and why it caused such a stir.
01:05Yeah, the simplest idea, but the first, like the origin.
01:10So in here, we have some of the tailoring.
01:13We have the newspaper print, which later became the John Galliano Dior version.
01:18So that's the origin of the John Galliano?
01:19This is the original.
01:20There's so many things that she did the first of.
01:24She was the first person to invent the concept of visual merchandising.
01:29I did not know that.
01:30She was the first person to do a unisex fragrance.
01:34Wow.
01:34First person to use an exposed zipper.
01:37First person to do themed collections.
01:40First person to use music in runway shows.
01:43Wow.
01:44Ah, this room is fantastic.
01:47I feel like this look literally commands your attention.
01:51We call it the Gold Collection.
01:52It was the first return to the runway after lockdown.
01:56And it's a direct replica of the Apollo embroidery that she did.
02:00It was the first time something from the archives really pulled us in.
02:06So it was the real fusion of past and present.
02:09But the motif is from a fountain at Versailles that was done by Lesage.
02:15So who wore the original Kate?
02:18Um, a very loyal client of hers named Lady Mendel.
02:21I think it was a beaten photograph, portrait of her.
02:24And there was a mirror below her.
02:26Even though it's black and white, you still have this like really juicy embroidery leaping
02:30out at you.
02:30There's something about the immediacy of black velvet, black satin.
02:37And boom, just the embroidery that feels so scap and so predictive of the digital instant
02:45gratification age that we live in.
02:48So I love that it's tying back to her, but feels so modern still.
02:53Wow.
02:54I'm obsessed with this dress and I've never seen it in person up close.
02:58It's one of my favorite pieces from Scapparelli and the Artist, which was the other term for
03:03the collection Purgatorio, we took anatomical paintings that I was doing for this season
03:08and we enlarged the painting to be life-size.
03:11Wow.
03:12And then we turned every brushstroke into a paillette.
03:17Basically the brushstrokes are done as a puzzle, painted onto plexi, and then embroidered onto a
03:24knit crochet base.
03:26I think we talk a lot about couture and what couture means and what modern couture looks and
03:31feels like, and for me, this is the absolute epitome of modern couture, it's one of one.
03:37You couldn't replicate this if you wanted to, like this is literally your hand.
03:41Yes.
03:42I feel like couture is sort of the moment for a house to say something about what it stands
03:47for in the creative space.
03:50And so, Scapparelli, the legacy is art and fashion.
03:54And so that's why in every look, we're trying to reduce, reduce, reduce the meaning so that
04:01it is as closely linked with art as possible.
04:04And that is what makes it so Scapp.
04:10Okay, so this is the matador jacket from Fall Wonder 2021.
04:14For me, it feels like just incredibly playful in the most high fashion way.
04:19Yes, yeah, yeah, the Scapp jacket is the thing and it's a typically very silhouetted, often
04:26sharp-shouldered and heavily embroidered.
04:28How did it come together from a technical perspective?
04:31Because it looks so intricate.
04:33Yeah, it all happens in the fitting.
04:35So like I draw everything before just to get the shapes down, but the real heartbeat of the
04:41collection always happens in 3D.
04:43When you look around the room, you see a lot of play happening with the jackets, it gives
04:49permission for us to play as well.
04:51So this was the first time really in my time here that the Scapp jacket announced itself.
04:57I remember this whole conversation with the team.
04:59It was like, it's Super Bowl halftime show.
05:04And there's a Scapparelli pop star coming up from the inside of the, from the floor.
05:09What is she wearing?
05:11And it was like, how embroidered, how turbo with mirrors and things and then the lights
05:16and everything.
05:17There's something so pop about Scapp.
05:20Yeah.
05:21And that's what I wanted here.
05:22This fusion of pop and archival embroideries and everything just delivered in one garment.
05:29I think because the house was closed for so long, for almost a century, that when we're
05:34creating something like this in the fittings, I'm always saying, is this museum bound?
05:40Right.
05:41You know, there's two mantras.
05:42Well, you were very accurate with this one.
05:44Yeah, actually, yes.
05:46Accidentally.
05:47But, but that's the question.
05:48Can it be on the cover of a magazine?
05:50And can it go into the museum?
05:52Yeah.
05:53So here we are in a really fabulous room full of Scapparelli hats and accessories.
05:59I think, honestly, this might be the most famous of Elsa's hats.
06:04Am I right?
06:05Yes.
06:06The other hats that women were wearing at the time, they were always just about making
06:10yourself look more beautiful.
06:12And this is not about making yourself look more beautiful.
06:16It's a provocation.
06:18I love that about her.
06:19It's just so much part of who she was a designer.
06:22So she was as, as a woman.
06:23Yeah.
06:24It's interesting.
06:24She has a very unique brand of provocation.
06:28It was never humor to the point of farce and this surrealist idea of displacement about
06:35taking an everyday object and putting it in a new context, making it feel like you're
06:41seeing it for the first time.
06:43Yeah.
06:43And I think also it's something that I think you've used to define your time at the house.
06:49That amazing dress that you designed for Ariana Grande.
06:52Yes.
06:52You know, when Ari was performing and then she turns around the ruby red slippers on the
06:57back of her dress and people screamed.
06:59What I'm always looking for, inspired by this, is what's going to make it an unforgettable
07:04moment.
07:05Not just a dress.
07:08We got the call from Ariana about two weeks before the Academy Awards.
07:14It's a pretty quick turnover.
07:15It was very quick and the producers wanted to do something that was sort of like a love
07:20letter to Los Angeles and to movie making.
07:23And she sang Somewhere Over the Rainbow.
07:25So that was the inspiration for this.
07:28What's the difference between working on a collection versus something like this is a
07:32special commission?
07:33The couture is so personal in a way.
07:38It's like an intimate dialogue with self.
07:41And when we're making something for a performer or a celebrity or whoever, it's really an act
07:50of service for them.
07:51The goal being that they are allowed to connect with self before this hugely performative part
07:59of her career, our job is to help her tell a story and make her feel amazing while she does
08:06it.
08:07Okay, so this is the famous lobster dress.
08:11This is her in all of her glory collaboration with Dali.
08:15The Duchess of Windsor had just gotten married.
08:18Didn't Schiaparelli make a wardrobe for her for her post?
08:21Yes, yes.
08:23And so this was part of that ensemble.
08:26And as a homage to who wore the pants in the relationship, the lobster is placed
08:33strategically between her legs.
08:35Oh, got it.
08:36And then also Dali wanted there to be real mayonnaise on the dress.
08:42Ah, okay.
08:43And Elsa was, I think she was like, it's a bridge too far.
08:46We don't want to do that.
08:47So luckily that didn't happen.
08:49So we still have the dress, but...
08:50I can't imagine those mayonnaise stains would have aged well.
08:54No.
08:57So this evening coat is one that Schiaparelli designed in collaboration with Jean Cocteau.
09:02As you can see, the motif is very much indicative of his art.
09:07Do you see a line from that original sweater that we saw, that trompe l'oeil,
09:12that sort of playful vibe in this?
09:15What makes it so striking is that the silhouette is so simple, so pure.
09:21It's like a canvas, basically.
09:23So your eye just goes to the drawings of Cocteau.
09:27And then the taffeta flowers are all pleated into rosette patterns and then hand painted.
09:34I think the rosettes are probably my favorite part about it.
09:38And those sparkly red lips, which I know is a motif that you play a lot with too.
09:44The eyes, the lips.
09:45Yeah, it's all permission granted from pieces like this.
09:50So this piece is pretty much hot off the Couture runway, isn't it?
09:54It's like two months old, I think.
09:56Wow.
09:56Yeah.
09:56The whole collection started with this quote from a poet called David White.
10:01He said, anger is the deepest form of care.
10:05Elsa Schiaparelli was, I don't want to say an angry person, but I know that the fantasy
10:12of her work was directly contrasted by a difficult reality in life.
10:21Yeah, yeah.
10:22And I love that there's this fashion becoming this foil.
10:26I was really pissed one day.
10:27I think something had happened in the studio and I grabbed my art supplies and just started
10:34drawing these tails, which were, you know, really short at the beginning.
10:38And then in the fittings, they just became these sort of like arabesques of venomous, beautiful anger.
10:46It became, I think, some of the most memorable looks from the last collection.
10:50Nice.
10:51I love this idea of like beauty and danger and beauty as armor and beauty as protection.
10:57Yes.
10:58You find that example over and over again in fashion.
11:00I know.
11:01I know.
11:01I mean, I think the most creative people are often the most tortured.
11:05Yes.
11:05So they have to find an outlet for that.
11:07Yeah.
11:08Well, we're not repeating that.
11:11No.
11:11Life cycle.
11:12No.
11:14I was so hoping that this look could make it into the exhibit and it did.
11:19I remember seeing it come down the runway and it was just such a electric moment.
11:26This is from this spring 24 couture collection, which was called Scaparalian.
11:32And it was all inspired by the character Ripley from Aliens.
11:36And it was all about the emergence of AI.
11:40Tell me about the construction of it, because it seems to have jewelry,
11:45but also pieces of a motherboard and obviously play on the motherboard, which is really cool.
11:52Exactly.
11:52It's all motherboard with lots of cables and cords.
11:55And there's crushed CDs and DVDs that have been turned into mirrors and paillettes.
12:01And then it's dusted in Swarovski crystals.
12:04So again, even in the embroidery, there's like a past and present, past and future.
12:08And it was molded by one of the artisans in the atelier.
12:12And it's like a couture stuffed animal, basically.
12:15Oh, that's incredible.
12:17Yeah.
12:17But my favorite thing about this is what you just said walking in.
12:21I remember when this came down the runway.
12:24That's the fashion that I know we both grew up looking at being inspired by remembering.
12:31And that's always the goal.
12:34How can we present something to you that will become part of the way you think about fashion in this
12:40era?
12:45So these were our objects of affection.
12:48Thank you so much for watching.
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