Evening gloves, Schiaparelli

• Elsa Schiaparelli

• Gift of Madame Delbée
• 1936
• Calf velvet, gilded metal false nails, saddle stitching, outside-stitched seams.
• Palais Galliera, musée de la Mode de la Ville de Paris

With links to the Surrealists, Elsa Schiaparelli practised a boldly witty mix of art and fashion. Her collaboration with Salvador Dalí began with her winter collection of 1936–1937, in which she used the theme of the hand, much prized by the Surrealists, in her belt buckles, buttons, clips and gloves. This pair of 'claw' gloves, like the snakeskin and red nails version in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, conjures up Man Ray's 1935 photo of hands painted by Picasso.

Notice's author : Marie-Laure Gutton