“Waist Up/Waist Down,” with Prada light green silk printed with illustrations by James Jean, 2008, paired with a 1937 Schiaparelli black wool evening jacket and blouse, embroidered with metallic thread and yellow rhinestones, on left, and Prada silk organza skirt embroidered with mirrors and orange leather leaves, 1999-2000, paired with a 1937-38 Schiaparelli green silk velvet evening jacket with red and pink rhinestones
Miuccia Prada and Elsa Schiaparelli never met, nor were the two designers cut from the same philosophical cloth. Yet in “Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conservations,” the splashy follow-up to last year’s blockbuster Alexander McQueen survey by the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, these two art-smart fashion titans have much to say to one another, both in words and through their clothes.
