The art of Schiaparelli and Man Ray revived at the MET

Through the exhibition “Man Ray: When Objects Dream”.

From 14 September 2025 to 1 February 2026, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York will host an ambitious exhibition that delves into the world of Man Ray‘s legendary rayographs, expanding its focus to the multidisciplinary practice that redefined 20th-century art. With more than 150 pieces spanning photography, film, painting and objects, this exhibition pays tribute to one of the most restless minds of surrealism while encapsulating the indomitable energy with which the artist dismantled the visual norms of his time.

The fashion house joins this celebration as a spectator and also as a fundamental part of the narrative. The story between Elsa Schiaparelli and Man Ray is that of two magnetic figures who, far from fitting in, decided to invent. They met in New York in 1919 thanks to the avant-garde Gabrielle Buffet-Picabia, a French art critic and writer, but it was in Paris where the magic happened. There were no hierarchies between them: muse, model, artist, designer… everything flowed. Through Ray‘s lens, Elsa‘s designs became a mirage; in her fashion, Ray‘s delusions found form.

Daniel Roseberry, Schiaparelli‘s current creative director, sums it up perfectly: “I’ve always felt a special affinity for Man Ray: like me, he was American (born in Pennsylvania in 1890) and a Virgo. But more importantly, he was an outsider in Paris, a voyeur of a scene that later became synonymous with it. And, like Elsa Schiaparelli, he blurred the boundaries between fashion and art: before fashion became a commercial enterprise, it was an artistic one, and that is largely thanks to them and the ease with which they moved between genres and creative identities.”