INTRODUCTION

“Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations” pairs designers separated by time but connected not only by their gender and their Italian heritage but also through their creative strategies, which both reflect and respond to the prevailing artistic, cultural, and political attitudes of their respective eras. Elsa Schiaparelli (1890–1973) and Miuccia Prada (born 1949) are both known for their deliberate fashion provocations that confront normative conventions of taste, beauty, glamour, and femininity. However, even as their designs resist or violate established principles of modishness, they never forgo the realities or pragmatics of clothing.