Hi, I'm Joe Manardi, head of editorial content at British Vote. And I'm Daniel Roseberry, creative director of Scaparelli. And we're here at the VNA for a truly fantastic exhibition. It's called Scaparelli, Fashion Becomes Art. And these are our objects of perfection. So, here we are. We're sitting in front of Elsa Scaparelli's first garment. Basically, she made this Trumploy boneut sweater in 1927 and everything kind of came from this. It speaks so much to her modern perspective on the woman's wardrobe. The legend is that she wore this one to a lunch at the Ritz.

Okay. Caused a sensation. Wow. For me, I'd always associated her with Trump Lloyd, but I actually didn't know that it was something quite as simplistic, but I think that's probably the impact and why it caused such a stir. Yeah. The simplest idea, but the first like the origin. So, in here we have some of the tailoring. We have the newspaper print which later became the John Galliano Dior. So, that's the origin of the This is the original. There's so many things that she did the first of. She was the first person to invent the concept of visual merchandising. She was the first person to do a unisex fragrance.

Wow. First person to use an exposed zipper. First person to do themed collections. First person to use music in runway shows. Wow. Ah, this room is fantastic. I feel like this look literally commands your attention. We call it the gold collection. It was the first return to the runway after lockdown and it's a direct replica of the Apollo embroidery that she did. It was the first time something from the archives really pulled us in. So, it was the real fusion of past and present, but the motif is from a fountain at Versailles that was done by LG. So, who wore the original cape?

Um, a very loyal client of hers named Lady Mendle. I think it was a beaten photograph portrait of her and there was a mirror below her. Even though it's black and white, you still have this like really juicy embroidery leaping out at you. There's something about the immediacy of black velvet, black satin, boom, just the embroidery that feels so scap and so predictive of the digital instant gratification age that we live in. So, I love that it's tying back to her, but feels so modern still. Wow. I'm obsessed with this dress, and I've never seen it in person up close. It's one of my favorite pieces from Scaparell and the artist, which was the other term for the collection, Purgatorio. We took anatomical paintings

that I was doing for this season, and we enlarged the painting to be life-size. Wow. And then we turned every brush stroke into a pet. Basically, the brush strokes are done as a puzzle, painted onto plexi, and then embroidered onto a knit crochet base. I think we talk a lot about couture and what couture means and what modern looks and feels like. And for me, this is the absolute epitome of modern couture. It's it's it's one of one. You couldn't replicate this if you wanted to. Like, this is literally your hand. Yes, I feel like couture is sort of the moment for a house to say something about what it stands for create in the creative space and so Scaparelli the legacy is art and fashion and so that's

why in every look we're trying to reduce the meaning so that it is as closely linked with art as possible and that is what makes it so scap. Okay. So, this is the Matador jacket from fall winter 2021. For me, it feels like just incredibly playful in the most high fashion way. Yes. Yeah. The scap jacket is the thing and it's a typically very silhouetted, often sharpshouldered and heavily embroidered.

How did it come together from a technical perspective? Cuz it looks so intricate. Yeah, it all happens in the fitting. So like I draw everything before just to get the shapes down, but the real heartbeat of the collection always happens in 3D. When you look around the room, you see a lot of play happening with the jackets. It gives permission for us to play as well. So this was the first time really in my time here that the Scap Jacket announced itself. I remember this whole conversation with the team. It was like it's Super Bowl halftime show and there's a scapery pop star coming up from the inside of the from the floor.

What is she wearing? And it was like how embroidered, how turbo with mirrors and things and then the lights and everything. There's something so pop about scap and that's what I wanted here. This fusion of pop and archival embroideries and everything just delivered in one garment. I think because the house was closed for so long for almost a century that when we're creating something like this in the fittings I'm always saying is this museum bound right you know there's two mantras it's like well you were very accurate with this one.

Yeah actually yes accidentally but that's the question can it be on the cover of a magazine and can it go into the museum? Yeah. So, here we are in a really fabulous room full of Scaparelli hats and accessories. I think honestly this might be the most famous sort of Elsa's hats. Am I right? Yes. The other hats that women were wearing at the time, they were always just about making yourself look more beautiful. And this is not about making yourself look more beautiful. It's a provocation.

I love that about her. It's just so much part of who she was as a designer. who she was as a woman. Yeah. It's interesting. She has a very unique brand of provocation. It was never humor to the point of farce. And this surrealist idea of displacement about taking an everyday object and putting it in a new context, making it feel like you're seeing it for the first time. Yeah. And I think also it's something that I think you've used to define your time at the house. that amazing dress that you designed for Ari Grande.

Yes. You know, when Ari was performing and then she turns around, the ruby red slippers on the back of her dress and people screamed. What I'm always looking for inspired by this is what's going to make it an unforgettable moment, not just a dress. We got the call from Ariana about 2 weeks before the Academy Awards. It's pretty quick turnover. It was very quick and the producers wanted to do something that was sort of like a love letter to Los Angeles and to movie making and she sang somewhere over the rainbow. So that was the inspiration for this. What's the difference between working on a collection versus something like this is a special commission.

The couture is so personal in a way. It's like an intimate dialogue with self. And when we're making something for a performer or a celebrity or whoever, it's really an act of service for them. The goal being that they are allowed to connect with self before this hugely performative um part of her career. Our job is to help her tell a story and make her feel amazing while she does it. Okay, so this is the famous lobster dress. This is her in all of her glory collaboration with Dolli. The Duchess of Windsor had just gotten married.

Didn't Scaparelli make a wardrobe for her for her post? Yes. And so this was part of that ensemble. And as a homage to who wore the pants in the relationship, right, the lobster is placed strategically between her legs. Oh, got it. And then also Dolly wanted there to be real mayonnaise on the dress. Ah, okay. And this Elsa was I think she was like, "It's a bridge too far. We don't want to do that." So, luckily that didn't happen. So, we still have the dress. But I can't imagine those mayonnaise stains would have aged well. No. So, this evening coat is one that Scaparelli designed in collaboration with Jean Cockto. As you can see, the motif is very much indicative of his art.

I do see a line from that original sweater that we saw that Trump loy that sort of playful vibe in this. What makes it so striking is that the silhouette is so simple, so pure. It's like a canvas basically. So your eye just goes to the drawings of Kakto and then the taffida flowers are all pleaded into rosette patterns and then hand painted. I think the rosettes are probably my favorite part about it and those sparkly red lips which I know is a motif that you play a lot with too. The eyes, the lips, the Yeah, it's all permission granted from pieces like this. So, this piece is pretty much hot off the couture runway, isn't it?

It's like two months old, I think. Wow. Yeah. The whole collection started with this quote from a poet called David White. He said, "Anger is the deepest form of care." Elsa Scaperelli was I don't want to say an angry person, but I know that the fantasy of her work was directly contrasted by a difficult re reality in life. And I love that there's this fashion becoming this foil. I was really pissed one day. I think something had happened in the studio and I grabbed my art supplies and just started drawing these tails which were, you know, really short at the beginning and then in the

fittings they just became these sort of like arabes of venomous beautiful anger. It became, I think, some of the most memorable looks from the last collection. Nice. I love this idea of like beauty and danger and beauty is armor and beauty's protection. Yes. You find that example over and over again in fashion. I know. I mean, I think the most creative people are often the most tortured. So, they have to find an outlet for that. Yeah. Well, we're not repeating that no life cycle.

No. I was so hoping that this look would make it into the exhibit and it did. I remember seeing it come down the runway and it was just such a electric moment. This is from this spring 24 couture collection which was called Scaparelion and it was all inspired by the character Ripley from Aliens and it was all about the emergence of AI. Tell me about the construction of it because it seems to have jewelry but also pieces of a motherboard and obviously play on the motherboard which is really cool. Exactly. It's all motherboard with lots of cables and cords and there's crushed CDs and DVDs that have been turned into

mirrors and petets and then it's dusted in Sarovski crystals. So again, even in the embroidery there's like a past and present, past and future. And it was molded by one of the artisans in the Italier and it's like a couture stuffed animal basically. Oh, it's incredible. Yeah. But my favorite thing about this is what you just said walking in. I remember when this came down the runway. That's the fashion that I know we both grew up looking at, being inspired by, remembering, and that's always the goal. How can we present something to you that will become part of the way you think about fashion in this era? So these were our objects of affection.

Thank you so much for watching.