In the garden of the surreal

Rachael Garrahan | Ursula | 20th March 2026

Dismissed by Coco Chanel as “that Italian artist who’s making clothes”, Schiaparelli was “one of the most dazzlingly inventive designers of the 20th century”. She had a “comet-like” rise to fashion fame in 1930’s Paris with clothes that were “witty, not just pretty”. Later artistic collaborations – Giacometti, Cocteau, Schlumberger and most frequently Dali – made her an avant-garde figure,  “prescient” according to one writer.. However, as tastes changed after WW2, both surrealism and her business foundered.