Surrealist Imagination Is Shaping Fashion—Here’s How I’m Styling It
Inspired by the Fall 2026 Couture collections, here are a few ways I’m excited to incorporate the movement into my own wardrobe.
Surrealism emerged in Paris in 1924 with André Breton’s Manifesto of Surrealism. Shaped by dream states, the unconscious, and a desire to challenge conventional reality, the movement was heavily influenced by Sigmund Freud’s theories. Artists including Salvador Dalí, René Magritte, and Max Ernst became some of its most recognizable figures.
I’ve been reading Surreal: The Extraordinary Life of Gala Dalí, which has drawn me further into the origins of the movement and the people who shaped it. I’ve also been immersing myself in the history of Schiaparelli and Coco Chanel, and their respective relationships with Dalí and Surrealism. Most recently, I visited the Dalí exhibition and Di Donna in Manhattan. Next week, I leave for Spain, where I’ll visit the Dalí museum. It feels like a true full-circle moment in what has become something of a personal hyperfixation.
Dalí exhibition and Di Donna in Manhattan taken by Alexis Badiyi.
Elsa Schiaparelli first brought Surrealism into haute couture in the 1930s through her collaborations with surrealist artists. Iconic examples from this era include the Lobster Dress and the Shoe Hat. That influence continues in contemporary fashion, as modern designers push the boundaries of wearability, turning the human body into a walking canvas for illusion, sculpture, and fantasy.
My first memories of Schiaparelli were from my grandmother, who had a personal affinity for the house. Often sharing stories with us about her famous music box hat from the Fall 1939 collection that would play actual music. I am still searching for this hat, so far I have found the dress and working music box belt buckle in the Met Museum archive.
Pictures of the Schiaparelli showroom captured in March and the Chanel store taken in July, by Alexis Badiyi.
Surrealism in fashion carries a sense of whimsy and subversion through dreamlike motifs, visual illusions, and unexpected forms. This season, those ideas appeared through a new wave of references that moved into surrealist territory.
At Chanel, Jack and the Beanstalk and Jumanji appeared as playful Easter eggs within an enchanted storybook world. Schiaparelli, a house with a longstanding connection to Surrealism, descended into the depths of the ocean with a futuristic vision of the abyss. At Dior, Jonathan Anderson drew inspiration from American artist Lynda Benglis, whose work blurs the boundaries between painting, sculpture, and material. Together, the collections suggest that fantasy, art, and a more surreal imagination will continue to shape the seasons ahead.
It is an exciting moment in fashion, to choose which universe you want to create within a garden, the depths of the sea, outer space, or somewhere in between. Below are a few ways I am currently bringing this sense of surrealism into my summer and pre-fall wardrobe:
