When Fashion Becomes Art
From lobster dresses to skeletal silhouettes, a new exhibition at London’s V&A charts Elsa Schiaparelli’s radical fusion of fashion, art and illusion. Here, assistant curator Lydia Caston highlights five works that define her legacy
- Words Ayla Angelos
Elsa Schiaparelli was a designer who treated clothing as a site of experimentation rather than adornment. Born in Rome in 1890, she moved to Paris in the late 1920s and quickly distinguished herself from contemporaries like Coco Chanel by embracing wit and surrealism within her work. Her collaborations with artists including Salvador Dalí and Jean Cocteau produced some of fashion’s most iconic and unconventional pieces – including the Lobster Dress, the Skeleton Dress and hats shaped like shoes. She saw fashion as inseparable from the avant-garde movements shaping interwar Europe, particularly Surrealism, which informed her playful and intellectual approach to design. Throughout the 1930s,
Inside the Marimekko Print Archive
At Matter and Shape in Paris, the Finnish design house opens up its 75-year archive of prints, revealing how artists, colour kitchens …
Spaces in Dialogue
In Salvati e Tresoldi: Lo spazio delle interazioni (Electa, 1985), Alberto Salvati and Ambrogio Tresoldi present architecture as …
Fragile Architecture
For Maison Ruinart’s Conversations with Nature programme, Japanese artist Tadashi Kawamata unveils a sequence of timber installations …
Still Life with a Chair
When Casa Batlló starts to move
Matt Clark from United Visual Artists transforms Gaudí’s landmark into a choreographic performance, unveiling a new facade commission …
A Catalogue of Everything
From Prada’s fashion archive to Warhol’s Time Capsules, the act of preservation shapes the way we see, access and experience history.
The Art of Motion
In a world dominated by screens, Helen Chesner and Isabel Gibson champion the tangible through kinetic installations and interactive …
Lines of Disruption
In Couleur et Fabrication, Wade Guyton transforms a 1960s Italian lamp catalogue into layered compositions of colour, chance and …
Sculpting Air
Inspired by côte&ciel designer Emilie Arnault's sculptural approach, architect and spatial artist Alberto Simoni of …
Blackletter Revival
From Saltburn to Juicy Couture, pop albums to podcast logos, blackletter type is everywhere – and it’s shaking off its outdated associations
Back to the Roots
After years of private equity-driven expansion, Flos and B&B Italia are returning to what made them great. With Piero Gandini at …
Can plastic ever be green?
As global temperatures hit an all-time high and the plastic-free movement gains momentum, can the wonder material of the 20th century …
Back to Milan
With a highly personal exhibition in a Milanese palazzo, as well as a presence in the Salone del Mobile in Milan, Michael …
The Politics of Data
From wealth inequality to media bias, Mona Chalabi’s data visualisations tell stories that numbers alone cannot
Design as Resistance
How Palestinian architects, artists and designers navigate material restrictions, urban fragmentation and cultural preservation under …
Era of Adaptation
Carlo Ratti's four-word manifesto frames an exhibition that grapples with climate catastrophe, collapsing populations and the …
Printmaking with Ramon Keimig
Through zines, posters, record sleeves and installations, the Swiss artist and designer brings the imperfections of the analogue …
Giles Tettey Nartey’s designs are rooted in African craft traditions
Exploring ritual, memory and materiality, the British-Ghanaian artist and architect reveals how his heritage and experiences …
Design on the Menu
Five restaurants where architecture and design have made a big impression
The Rise and fall (and archive) of Nokia
Once the king of mobile phones, Nokia’s legacy lives on through the newly unveiled Nokia Design Archive at Aalto University, Finland
What is next for Samuel Ross
The polymath in conversation with Ayla Angelos
Elio Fiorucci
As Triennale Milano unveils a new retrospective of Fiorucci’s life and influence, Anima speaks with the exhibition’s curator Judith …
Notes on Design: Andu Masebo’s Tubular Chair
Andu Masebo delves into the making of his Tubular Chair, revealing insights into his design process, materiality and collaboration …
Alternatives to Charcoal
For affluent westerners charcoal is the means to add flavour to garden barbecues. But in much of the world, with no affordable …
Jony Ive is inspired
No designer has done more to change the way that we all live than Jony Ive, Apple’s former chief design officer and co founder of …
A language without words
From ancient hieroglyphs to the Olympic Games and architectural signs for the deaf community, pictograms have become a powerful tool …
Nathalie du Pasquier is inspired
The artist Nathalie du Pasquier talks about the things that influence her work
The political uses of typography
Few typefaces carry as much political weight as Futura. From avant-garde to mainstream, to being in Barbara Kruger’s hands and then …
Anima talks to the British artist and designer about what's next after selling his stake in his business, A-COLD-WALL*
