What: “Elsa Schiaparelli and Miuccia Prada: On Fashion”
Where: The Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
When: May 10 – August 19

The title is based on Umberto Eco’s books On Beauty and On Ugliness, which explore the philosophy of aesthetics. Videos in the galleries of simulated conversations between Schiaparelli and Prada will follow the book’s outline and will be organized by topics such as “On Art,” “On Politics,” “On Women,” “On Creativity,” and more.

The exhibition will explore how both women employed unconventional textiles, colors, and prints to play with conventional ideas of good and bad taste, and how they exploited whimsical fastenings, fanciful trompe l’oeil details, and deliberately rudimentary embroideries for strange and provocative outcomes. Experimental technologies and modes of presentation will bring together masterworks from the designers in an unexpected series of conversations on the relationship between fashion and culture.

What: “Christian Louboutin,” a retrospective of the designer
Where: Design Museum, London
When: March 28 – July1

The Design Museum presents the first UK retrospective of iconic French shoe designer Christian Louboutin, celebrating a career which has pushed the boundaries of high fashion shoe design. This exhibition celebrates Louboutin’s career to date and showcases twenty years of designs and inspiration, revealing the artistry and theatricality of his shoe design from stilettos to lace-up boots, studded sneakers and bejewelled pumps. Louboutin’s shoes are the epitome of style, glamour, power, femininity and elegance.