I wanted to go to this exhibit as soon as it was announced even though I knew very little about Elsa Schiaparelli. Born in 1890 in Rome she left Italy when she was 23 to escape her aristocratic upbringing and started her first fashion collection in 1927 without having any kind of formal training. Recognising that fashion, art and design are all interconnected she enjoyed experimenting and embracing new ideas and techniques. She retired in 1954 (dying in 1973) and the eponymous fashion house closed after declaring bankruptcy until 2006 when the name and archive, trademarks etc were bought by an Italian billionaire and brought under the umbrella of his fashion company. The current artistic director is Daniel Roseberry and some of his designs are on display here too.