Bertrand Guyon has his second season at Schiaparelli finished, but it still seems that he needs time to show his audience who he is. The signatures of Elsa Schiaparelli are so characteristic that it’s surely hard to make your personal style the first privilege – even though Marco Zanini, the predecessor of Guyon at the brand, was nearly there. The idea behind the haute couture spring-summer 2016 collection, or rather a thematic find from Elsa’s archives, was celebration of food and the family meal. The topic of food was significant for the legendary designer – in her autobiography “Shocking Life“, she stated “eating well gives a spectacular joy to life and contributes immensely to goodwill and happy companionship. It is of great importance to the morale.” Indeed, the nearly minuscule details and bejewelled embroideries, created in collaboration with Maripol, looked joyous. The adorable cherry was hooked over one nipple, while an evolution of a “breakfast egg” had been humoristically presented in form of jacket buttons. Bertrand and his team proved that craftsmanship is the maison‘s specialty – the blazer above was ornamented with a wheat plaiting technique, known to the best Parisian ateliers only.

However, the collection had its bad site which couldn’t be fixed by all those nutritious finishings – in the overall, the collection looked unfinished. The closing looks weren’t spectacular at all – modest, scanty dresses felt not on the right place. Even the spider-web shoulder exposures were illogical. I suppose Elsa didn’t mean insects as her favourite positions in the menu. As it’s visible, the collection needed a more strict edit, and a rich, festive ending. I still felt hungry after the show.