This Schiaparelli dress transforms the female physique into a landscape of pain. With a pattern designed by surrealist artist Salvador Dali, Elsa Schiaparelli created this piece as a part of her Spring 1938 ‘Circus Collection’. It consists of a motif of bursting flesh that repeats itself throughout the dress with a matching veil that accompanies it. Engulfing the wearer completely, yet exposing them to the world. This is reiterated in the pink gloves that show the unravelling of the body. Even if the wearer is standing perfectly still and carved like a statue, they are still constantly torn away. This piece could only work as women’s couture, as beauty and pain are synonymous for this demographic.