Last week I went to the Met for opening day of this year’s Costume Institute Exhibit - Schiaparelli & Prada : Impossible Conversations. The idea for the exhibit was based upon Miguel Covarrubias's "Impossible Interviews" for Vanity Fair in the 1930s. The exhibition explored the similarities and differences between the two designers by comparing their approaches to different themes including "Waist Up/Waist Down," "Ugly Chic," "Hard Chic," "Naïf Chic," "The Classical Body," "The Exotic Body," and "The Surreal Body".
Director Baz Luhrmann created simulated conversations between the two designers by having actress Julie Davis playing Schiaparelli, using the designers own words from her autobiography Shocking Life, and Prada playing herself. Through these films the viewer is invited to enter the world of the two designers like a fly on the wall in a private dinner setting.
