Shock Effect. Schiaparelli AW25 Haute Couture

July 8, 2025 | Design & Culture by Ed

Sparking a shock effect is obvious as day for Daniel Roseberry and his vision of Schiaparelli; ultimately, it was Elsa who coined Shocking Pink. Yet there was nothing pink about the autumn-winter 2025 haute couture show. Roseberry continues to examine radical restraint – of the woman’s body, rather than the discipline of dress-making or tailoring – and this collection felt darker than usual. It referred to Schiaparelli’s late 1930s collections, which were peak surrealist – but also carried a sense of growing melancholy and unrest, as if they foresaw the upcoming tragedies of Second World War. There are many indicators that the world we know today is off to a burning, unstoppable crisis, so it’s no wonder why Roseberry is in a gloomier mood. But then there’s the shocker that lets the mind escape for moment: amidst the corseted matador suits, body-morphing padding, hourglass shapes and heavily embellished gowns, a red corseted satin dress constructed with a fake torso and breasts in the back, with a pulsating (as in for real, not trompe l’oeil) red rhinestone heart necklace hanging just below the nape of the model’s neck. The sight was both sinister and highly body horror, somewhere between “The Substance“, “Death Becomes Her” and “Suspiria“. But it also screamed: madame couture has arrived.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Flashy. Schiaparelli SS25

October 5, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

At Schiaparelli, I feel like Daniel Roseberry doesn’t have a clear idea of what the brand’s ready-to-wear line should look like. For a consecutive season now, it’s more of an after-thought of his haute couture that was forced to be less in-your-face, more “commercial”, but at the same time still look flashy and rich. In a way, Schiaparelli ready-to-wear is giving Olivier Rousteing Balmain or something Alexandre Vauthier-ish. Paris is overfilled with fashion like this, and Roseberry’s is just adding up to that certain not-so-niche niche.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Old World, Vampy Glamour. Schiaprelli AW24 Couture

June 25, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

This haute couture week started with a regal twist as Daniel Roseberry took us back in time. “I had this dream of finding a forgotten couture collection in the basement of Elsa’s country house,” he said backstage at his Schiaparelli fashion show. This is a couture label that flourished in the 1920s and ’30s. Its contemporary creative director has never seemed hemmed in by that era, but this season he made his gaze more explicit. “I wanted people to feel the collection was referencing a different time… and there was something about the ’50s that felt so fresh and simple. You’ll find homages to those silhouettes.” The show was staged in a basement – the basement of the Hôtel Salomon de Rothschild, whose upper salons have long been used for couture shows. In the dark, chandelier-lit space Roseberry conjured something of the haute couture shows of old, with models emerging at a stately, almost reverential pace, and making eye contact with the audience. Maybe it felt stuffy and history-heavy at some moments, even archaic, but there’s an irresistible charm of that old world, vampy glamour. Who wouldn’t want to indulge in wearing the show-opening cape, with the broad shoulders of an eagle with silver lozenge embroidery arranged to look like gleaming feathered wings? Or a black party dress, with its tulle skirt in a permanent can-can kick flip exposing an underside lavishly embellished with pink rhinestones? Or spiral in some mirrored hall, covered in millefeuille circles that trimmed the arabesque hems of an hourglass dress? Couture is a dreamworld, and Roseberry has no shame about it.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Prêt-À-Porter. Schiaparelli AW24

March 3, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

Daniel Roseberry‘s Schiaparelli ready-to-wear used to read as an offshoot of the haute couture line. But the autumn-winter 2024 collection offered a new mindset. Cleaned from bold surreal ornaments, eye motifs or in-your-face Elsa Schiaparelli references, Roseberry offered his perspective on daily chic. There was strong tailoring with beautiful silhouettes and ties made to look like plaited hair, corsets worn over vest tops and outerwear with spectacular, hand-made buttons. “So what is Schiap ready-to-wear? It’s a wardrobe full of blazer variations, crisp slacks and separates, and dramatic evening wear – with both our founder’s beloved iconographies (the anatomy, the measuring tape, the keyhole) and my beloved Americanisms (fringe, buckles, and denim) making starring appearances and cameos throughout,” the designer summed up. While the collection seemed to lack direction, and in some moments reminded bits of Demna’s Balenciaga, Kim Jones’ Fendi and Pieter Mulier’s Alaïa, it was certainly refreshing to see more lightness at this detail-heavy brand.

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Schiapar-alien. Schiaparelli SS24 Couture

January 23, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

Couture season has started, baby! Schiaparelli kicked of the haute week in Paris with musings on sci-fi and the future. The final result of Daniel Roseberry‘s plunge into all things Alien and Elsa Schiaparelli was, however, more about retro-tech with grand, surreal gestures. Huge funnel-like necklines disguised the face behind screens of lace; champagne-hued ballgowns with silk bows that jutted out near-endlessly appeared to defy gravity; and floor-length beaded fringes that moved energetically as if from Planet Glam all conjured astronomical flourishes of high-art-meets-high-fashion. Elsewhere, silver spine-like bijoux (a nod to Schiaparelli’s 1938 skeleton dress) that sprouted from the back of a black corset paired with a latex skirt and a polished parure, and a perfectly curved cream jacket offered all the alienistic edge a line of space-ready silhouettes could need. The mini-dress made out of discarded technology relics can be read as a comment on tech-waste, a problem that we face globally. But you can also perceive it as a new take on embellishments and embroideries. “Now, the technology I grew up with is so antiquated that it’s almost as difficult to source as certain vintage fabrics and embellishments,” said Roseberry in his show notes. Model Maggie Maurer – an IRL freshly-baked mother – carried a baby doll made from motherboards and microchips. That all might have felt quite too much for a Monday morning, but at Schiaparelli there seems no such thing as restraint.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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