READ THIS: Schiaparelli and Prada Impossible Conversations Andrew Bolton and Harold Koda Introduction by Judith Thurman Complementing the exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art Our Coverage Sponsored by Hallak Cleaners the Couture Cleaner
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One of the most anticipated days in the fashion world is the day The Metropolitan Museum of Art releases their fashion exhibit! Many travel from all over the world to view the exquisite compilations that are so greatly admired as attested to by the attendance of the McQueen exhibit last year, and every exhibit is accompanied by an outstanding reflection of it in book form by The Yale University Press. We are thrilled to work with both The Met and Yale University on this review and this is the first that we have released in advance of Peachy's first jaunt to the exhibit. Reading Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations is not only required reading to paint the perfect educated backdrop in your mind prior to visiting this exhibit, but it is also a fantastic read post-exhibit to seal in your memories-and it makes an excellent gift for all those you know that cannot make the trip!
So, what makes this year different? Every year is of course different, but this year sets itself apart in that it celebrates the bold accomplishments of talented Italian women, each of whom had an intrinsic fashion capability with no formal fashion education. The presentation is also different as it is a format of a conversation between these two great females that never met. And, it also celebrates the idea that what was relevant 100 years ago can still be relevant today, as we know through Julian Fellowes's Downton Abbey and Ken Follett's Fall of Giants just to name a couple. Above all, the work by these two legends of fashion is a celebration of design and the juxtaposition of photographs of the looks of both Schiaparelli and Prada when similar face each other on one open page, which will provoke a lot of discussion, contrast and comparisons we believe. We believe what is old can be new again and in our opinion, the fun and fancy of fashion is triumphant for both designers in the photographs chosen for this book.
After the similarly facing designs, a sponsor statement by Jeff Bezos, a compact table of contents in a book within a book that is later repeated, Thomas Campbell highlights the affinities between these two designers in the foreword and gives credit where credit is due.
Here's what we believe you'll find most interesting about this book:
*How both Schiaparelli and Prada viewed art in relation to their pursuit of fashion
*How social connections and the cultural sphere affected each of them
*They each had strict Catholic girlhoods in upper-crust families-how did that impact them and their designs? Read This
*Prada's responses to the conversations that were initiated with thoughts by Schiaparelli-a total find which will make you Read This from cover to cover
*How the creative process is influenced by hierarchy, or not
*Schiaparelli and Prada's respective roles in the role of the powerful, independent woman
*They both had fathers that were professors
*Their first collections came out at age 37 and 40
From Hard Chic to Ugly Chic, from Naif Chic to the Classical Body, from the Exotic Body to the Surreal Body, and Waist Up/Waist Down, each section will beguile you and leave you absolutely sprinting to The Met despite the long line we anticipate! The conversations themselves are priceless and quintessentially creative. The photography is unparalleled and essential to convey the verbiage. We won't give it all away but just know you're going to love it. And we love how Prada uses cars in her prints-check out the flames in the windows of the Madison Avenue store and on pages 88-89.
Read This, get there early, and be in the know!
Whom You Know Highly Recommends Schiaparelli and Prada Impossible Conversations!
Bravo Metropolitan Museum of Art and Yale University Press.
It's another hit!
So, what makes this year different? Every year is of course different, but this year sets itself apart in that it celebrates the bold accomplishments of talented Italian women, each of whom had an intrinsic fashion capability with no formal fashion education. The presentation is also different as it is a format of a conversation between these two great females that never met. And, it also celebrates the idea that what was relevant 100 years ago can still be relevant today, as we know through Julian Fellowes's Downton Abbey and Ken Follett's Fall of Giants just to name a couple. Above all, the work by these two legends of fashion is a celebration of design and the juxtaposition of photographs of the looks of both Schiaparelli and Prada when similar face each other on one open page, which will provoke a lot of discussion, contrast and comparisons we believe. We believe what is old can be new again and in our opinion, the fun and fancy of fashion is triumphant for both designers in the photographs chosen for this book.
After the similarly facing designs, a sponsor statement by Jeff Bezos, a compact table of contents in a book within a book that is later repeated, Thomas Campbell highlights the affinities between these two designers in the foreword and gives credit where credit is due.
Here's what we believe you'll find most interesting about this book:
*How both Schiaparelli and Prada viewed art in relation to their pursuit of fashion
*How social connections and the cultural sphere affected each of them
*They each had strict Catholic girlhoods in upper-crust families-how did that impact them and their designs? Read This
*Prada's responses to the conversations that were initiated with thoughts by Schiaparelli-a total find which will make you Read This from cover to cover
*How the creative process is influenced by hierarchy, or not
*Schiaparelli and Prada's respective roles in the role of the powerful, independent woman
*They both had fathers that were professors
*Their first collections came out at age 37 and 40
From Hard Chic to Ugly Chic, from Naif Chic to the Classical Body, from the Exotic Body to the Surreal Body, and Waist Up/Waist Down, each section will beguile you and leave you absolutely sprinting to The Met despite the long line we anticipate! The conversations themselves are priceless and quintessentially creative. The photography is unparalleled and essential to convey the verbiage. We won't give it all away but just know you're going to love it. And we love how Prada uses cars in her prints-check out the flames in the windows of the Madison Avenue store and on pages 88-89.
Read This, get there early, and be in the know!
Whom You Know Highly Recommends Schiaparelli and Prada Impossible Conversations!
Bravo Metropolitan Museum of Art and Yale University Press.
It's another hit!
***
Although separated by several decades, the fashion designers Elsa Schiaparelli and Miuccia Prada — both Italian, both feminists—share surprising affinities. Schiaparelli, from the 1920s through the 50s, and Prada, from the late 1980s to today, exploited the narrative possibilities of prints, were closely associated with the artistic avant-garde, played with ideas of good and bad taste, and employed trompe l’oeil effects for surrealistic outcomes. This unique book explores the formal and conceptual similarities between the designs of these two renowned women. Remarkable
new photographs of Prada ensembles by David Sims and Toby McFarlan Pond, are interwoven with iconic vintage images of Schiaparelli’s designs to create a visual “dialogue,” reinforced by the designers’ own words, which demonstrate their shared preferences for unconventional textiles, eccentric color palettes, and a playful approach to styling and accessories. The book itself is an objet d’art, a “book within a book” that reflects the conceptual and inventive nature of their creations. Blending the historical with the contemporary, Schiaparelli and Prada presents an informative and entertaining “conversation” between two of the most important fashion designers to emerge from Italy.
Harold Koda is Curator in Charge and Andrew Bolton is a Curator in The Costume Institute at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Judith Thurman is the author of Cleopatra’s Nose: 39 Varieties of Desire, Isak Dinesen: The Life of a Storyteller, winner of the National Book Award, and Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette. She is a staff writer for the New Yorker.
324 pages; 206 illustrations
Published by
The Metropolitan
Museum of Art
Distributed by Yale
University Press
Hardcover $45
ISBN: 978-0-300-17955-2
Exhibition Schedule:
The Metropolitan
Museum of Art
May 10 –Aug. 19, 2012
