Which designer created the 1937 Lobster dress famously worn by Wallis Simpson?

Elsa Schiaparelli created the 1937 Lobster dress famously worn by Wallis Simpson.

The dress was a long white silk evening gown with a large red lobster printed across its skirt. The lobster motif was designed by Salvador Dalí, whose surrealist imagery strongly influenced Schiaparelli’s work. The collaboration combined Dalí’s provocative symbolism with Schiaparelli’s fashion design.

Wallis Simpson wore the dress for a series of photographs by Cecil Beaton in 1937, shortly before her marriage to the former King Edward VIII. The images became especially memorable because of the contrast between the elegant white gown and the vivid, unexpected lobster.

The garment is often called the Lobster dress, although it was part of Schiaparelli’s broader surrealist approach rather than a conventional themed costume. Schiaparelli’s partnerships with artists helped establish her as one of the most experimental Paris designers of the 1930s, and the dress remains one of her signature creations.