Although Fashion Week is months away, New York got a taste of heaven on Monday, May 1 2012, when the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum unveiled its new exhibition of Elsa Schiaparelli and Miuccia Prada. The exhibition, titled Impossible Conversations, is a quirky and unique way to display the works of the legendary designers.
The exhibition consists of a running dialogue between these two women, deemed ‘Impossible’ because Schiaparelli passed away in 1973 before ever meeting the now 63-year-old Prada. The dialogue revolves around their opinion of the classic kitchen accessory: the apron. A quintessential item for almost all women, the apron is more than just something to be worn in the kitchen. Prada describes how an apron is symbolic of domesticity and women around the world. “It’s an emblem to women’s despair, their poverty, their passions.”
However, one wonders, can two designers who have never met link together a cohesive, yet intriguing exhibition? Both women have spent years working in the (surprisingly) male-dominated fashion industry, and they are both “intolerant to female passivity and desperation.” And in my opinion, the combination of such great talents with such similar mindsets is sure to create a breathtaking, once-in-a-lifetime exhibition with two of the industries most prized names.