Daniel Roseberry does not speak French. Instead, the American artistic director has to impart instructions to Schiaparelli’s artisans using a translator. This season, that translator must have been busy, as Roseberry sent an impossibly intricate collection down the Paris runway this morning.
Unlike the clothes, this season’s showspace was relatively clean: models walked around carpeted floors to a bass-heavy beat against the backdrop of floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Paris, while Cardi B and Dua Lipa looked on from the FROW.
The simplicity of the set averted all eyes to the clothes. Although it was titled “Back to the Future,” the collection was a far cry from the kitschy film from which it derived its name. It was, however, giving extraterrestrial: it felt as though Roseberry imagined what aliens descending on earth might wear if they had a high-fashion courtier at their disposal, and AI hadn’t made it to space.
He played fast and loose with proportions: corsets were warped to form unnatural shapes, while one look (which unsurprisingly went viral in fashion circles) featured a sculptural corset that had a woman’s torso and breasts at the back. The detailing was also alien-coded, with the classic singular Schiap eye embellished all over dresses.
Other collection highlights included cropped, heavily embellished military jackets, an elegant silk vermilion gown that will undoubtedly appear on red carpets in the coming months, and necklaces that resembled iceberg shards. It also served up sex, via diamonte detailing at the back of a thong and corsets featuring BDSM-style straps.
But while the collection was giving futurism, it also referenced the past, particularly the year 1941, when Elsa Schiaparelli traversed Europe and New York and fashion thrived despite the onset of war Daniel also recreated Elsa Schiaparelli’s historic “Apollo” cape, in diamanté bijoux, and introduced the Elsa jacket, an angular-shouldered piece that references the brand’s archive.
Overall, the collection was a lesson in the past and the future. As Roseberry noted in the show’s press release, “looking backwards is nothing if we can’t find something meaningful to bring into our future.”
Featured image via Schiaparelli ©
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