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Skulls, Lobsters & Geometry: Three Artists who Altered the Course of Fashion SALVADOR DALÍ
Schiaparelli and Dalí collaborated several times, producing
Spanish surrealist Salvador Dalí’s commercially minded
some of the most iconic and scandalous wearable pieces
approach to art, lifelong interest in costume, and mission to
of the era. Perhaps the most talked-about was their
subvert social norms led him to become hugely influential
Lobster Dress from 1937, worn famously by Wallis Simpson
in the world of fashion. With the ideological mission of
the Duchess of Windsor. The large lobster, a motif made
always creating something truly new, Dalí, through his many
famous a year earlier by Dalí’s Lobster Telephone sculpture,
partnerships with designers such as Coco Chanel, Christian
strewn amidst sprigs of parsley on white organdy was
Dior, and Italian haute couture designer Elsa Schiaparelli,
considered scandalous at the time due to its perceived erotic
altered the course of both art and fashion in the 20th
connotations. What was intended to be a two-page feature
Century.
in Vogue became a seven-page spread, and an international sensation. The only thing missing was the mayonnaise that Schiaparelli refused to allow Dalí to add to the dress…
8 | leonardjoel.com.au
