Met Museum glamour fest unites Prada, Schiaparelli

New York's Metropolitan Museum opened its latest homage to the ultra expensive, glamorous world of high fashion Tuesday with an "Impossible Conversations" exhibition of Elsa Schiaparelli and Miuccia Prada.

Dozens of iconic outfits created by Elsa Schiaparelli and Miuccia Prada will be on show until August 19 (AFP, Emmanuel Dunand)

The exhibit follows a star-studded opening gala on Monday that saw Hollywood starlets, top models, sporting champions and the extremely wealthy flock to the Met's Art Costume Institute.

Dozens of iconic outfits created by the two designers will be on show until August 19 against a backdrop of imaginary filmed conversations featuring the actual Prada and an actress, Judy Davis, in the role of Schiaparelli, who died in 1973.

In reality the two fashion greats never had a chance to meet, but for the exhibition they are imagined discussing their lives and careers. Both known as strong characters, their dialogue includes disagreements, notably over whether or not fashion is art.

"Four years ago we had received the Schiaparelli material and we wanted to use it," Harold Koda, the head curator, said.

"As Schiaparelli was already the reason for the show of the conversation, we just needed to find another designer. The first reason we selected Miuccia Prada was not only her influence and her engagement in the art scene, but also the fact that she was Italian and we thought having that common thing made it more elegant and symmetric."

Last year, the Met hosted a big retrospective of fashion designer Alexander McQueen's work.