Schiaparelli Haute Couture SS23 Show

Daniel Roseberry and Ms Schiaparelli have arguably been students of the same school of thought for a while now.  Of course, there’s over a century and countless differences between them – one a suburban Texan and the other an aristocratic Roman. Their unifying lingua franca has been a shared surrender to trancelike creative focus; to never stop questioning or challenging.

For the artist, it’s often a complicated and cathartic relationship, and one that watered the roots for the Schiaparelli Haute Couture SS23 collection at Paris Fashion Week.  These motivating desires – in concert with inspiration from Dante’s underworld epic, Inferno – helped to pen Roseberry’s new tale.  And although Hell proved to be the foundation, here, it was Heaven that was built on.

Setting the precedent as the first of this season’s Couture shows, the Petit Palais staged Roseberry’s 32 look collection of stylized, angular armours and hourglass cinching. [Look 19 and 20.] It offered a resolute message – the confidence of the Schiaparelli woman remains unscathed.  Met with open arms, [Look 17] swathes of rich hues like ivory, ink black and copper [Look 3, Look 29 / 30 for example, Look 32] emerged from the atelier’s gilded paintbox.  From the sculpted impressions of toes on the leather stilettos to the breathtaking exaggerated forms, [Look 2, Look 7, Look 10, for example] everything reflected the novel masterstrokes of Roseberry’s brush.

Naturally, this is couture after all; and Schiaparelli at that.  The consideration of artisanship has always been an unquestioned part of their journey towards creating spectacles.  On the catwalk, tawny baubles proved to be spherical wooden beads.  Trompe l’oeil hand-crafted leopard, lion or wolf heads [Look 10, Look 15 and Look 30] were fashioned in resin and faux fur.  In a further nod to Dante’s influence, a structured shell bodice covered in gleaming in mother of pearls and 24-carat gold leaf sat like a crown atop a long, draped liquid silk velvet skirt. [Look 9].

Between the diaphanous silks and architectural, toreador-esque pantsuits, Roseberry’s muses stood out forcefully as the lion in strength and the lioness in seduction.  In flirting with this dynamic and exploring what underpins both artistic and sartorial truth, SS23 acted in the liminal spaces between the perceived and the understood.  This is where the designer harnessed the spirit of the contemporary woman.  Akin to the character of the founder herself, Roseberry took that spirit and moulded it with a supremely curious and endlessly creative eye.  The result was a collection of playful mastery.

The lasting impression from the show was an appeal to erase the circus but retain the theatrics.  Run headlong into desires unknown.  Roseberry will be your ringmaster this summer.  It’s said that ‘all the world’s a stage’.  And no-one is bringing the drama like Schiaparelli Haute Couture.

To read our review of the Chanel Haute Couture SS23 show, click here

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