The Schiaparelli FW24 Show Was Art! 🎭

In the realm of haute couture, surrealism reigns supreme. It’s a magical experience that challenges belief, where the creations before your eyes seem almost otherworldly in their craftsmanship. This season, Daniel Roseberry embraced this notion, liberating himself from the bold and overtly surreal tricks he had previously employed to draw attention to Schiaparelli’s reestablished identity and visibility.

“For this season, I wanted to feel more free, spontaneous, and painterly,” Roseberry explained before the show. “The idea of the previous collection was to create a captivating presence. And that’s exactly what happened. This time, the focus was to delve deeper into the techniques we wanted to showcase while keeping the attention on the collection.”

This marked the moment when Roseberry embarked on his own creative journey, sculpting and draping sculptural and asymmetrical silhouettes using black and white materials. He collaborated with skilled artisans, blurring the boundaries between clothing, embroidery, jewelry, and textile collages.

It would be incomplete not to mention the monumental event that unfolded earlier—the faux taxidermy lion head that sent shockwaves through the internet in January, overshadowing the rest of Roseberry’s couture message. Reflecting on it, Roseberry confessed, “It was more than we had expected. It brought about a whirlwind of controversy, unintentionally overshadowing my intentions as a couturier. But it was also an important moment for the house. I loved it. Absolutely loved it.”

However, this season, Roseberry charted a different course, drawing inspiration from Schiaparelli’s longstanding collaboration with artists. This led to remarkable and unbounded artisanal effects. The chaotic and paint-dashed studio of Lucian Freud inspired a multicolored ‘nude’ dress, featuring an irregular mosaic of paillettes meticulously sewn onto chiffon. Exploring Schiaparelli’s classic gold embroidery, Roseberry discovered a vibrant Yves Klein blue at the opposite end of the color spectrum. This vivid blue found its way into a scrolling skating skirt, spray-painted body paint, and even painted wooden jewelry, forming mesmerizing coils.

Roseberry astutely broke free from the routine of relying heavily on the trompe l’oeil body-part house codes that have become synonymous with his work at Schiaparelli. Given the commercial success he has brought to the house through his jewelry and accessories, Roseberry has earned the privilege to explore new avenues. After all, haute couture is a platform for experimentation and pushing the boundaries of what is possible.