SCHIAPARELLI AND PRADA: IMPOSSIBLE CONVERSATIONS @ THE MET

In celebration of the Met's Spring 2012 Costume Institute exhibition, Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations, and for the first time in the event's history, red carpet arrivals at The Metropolitan Museum of Art's renowned Costume Institute Benefit will be live streamed here on Monday, May 7, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Hosted by Vogue's William Norwich and Elettra Wiedemann, the broadcast will include interviews with the gala co-chairs, including Carey Mulligan, Miuccia Prada, and Anna Wintour, as well as celebrities from the worlds of fashion, film, society, sports, art, business, and music. The hosts will ask attending celebrities five additional questions chosen from viewer submissions on Twitter (#MetQuestions) during the live stream. You can join the conversation about the exhibition and gala benefit by following the Met on Facebook and Twitter.

The exhibition will showcase approximately ninety designs and thirty accessories by Schiaparelli (1890–1973) from the late 1920s to the early 1950s and by Prada from the late 1980s to the present. Drawn from The Costume Institute's collection and the Prada Archive, as well as other institutions and private collections, signature objects by both designers will be arranged in seven themed galleries: "Waist Up/Waist Down," "Ugly Chic," "Hard Chic," "Naïf Chic," "The Classical Body," "The Exotic Body," and "The Surreal Body."

Schiaparelli, who worked in Paris from the 1920s until her house closed in 1954, was closely associated with the Surrealist movement and created such iconic pieces as the "Tear" dress, the "Shoe" hat, and the "Bug" necklace. Prada, who holds a degree in political science, took over her family's Milan-based business in 1978, and focuses on fashion that reflects the eclectic nature of Postmodernism.