Guido Harari Contrasto / Redux; Hoyningen-Huene / Vogue / Conde Nast Archive
Following last year’s blockbuster Alexander McQueen show, the Met’s Costume Institute looks at two Italian designers: contemporary magnate Miuccia Prada and Elsa Schiaparelli, best known for Surrealist collaborations with Salvador Dalí such as the Shoe Hat, the Lobster Dress (infamously worn by Wallis Simpson) and the trompe l’oeil Tears Dress. Any conversation between the two women is indeed impossible in a literal sense, since Schiaparelli died in 1973. But this exhibit (creative consultant: director Baz Luhrmann) is arranged to underline the echoes in their use of textiles, colors and embroideries. (Prada also shares with Schiaparelli a love of art: her collection includes several pieces by Damien Hirst, and her Fondazione Prada supports contemporary artists.) May 10 – Aug. 19; www.metmuseum.org