Theatrical and Provocative: The Schiaparelli Fashion Show Opens Paris Haute Couture Week

Creative director, Daniel Roseberry, presented his new Schiaparelli collection during the Spring-Summer 2023 Haute Couture show.

Courtesy of Schiaparelli

Schiaparelli’s fashion show opened the Paris haute couture week, which began on Monday with a theatrical show by the Italian fashion house.

The show, which featured over-the-top hats and jewellery as well as provocative outfits, was held at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris.

Entitled ‘Born Again’, Roseberry’s runway show was an ode to ‘creative innocence’, optimism and the sheer joy of fashion.

                 Backstage Schiaparelli FW22-23 Haute Couture Collection

Roseberry, the creative director who brought the house into this century, understands that the pressure for beauty is part of fashion and that is reflected in this provocative collection:

Backstage Schiaparelli FW22-23 Haute Couture Collection

“All of us in the fashion know that much of the rest of the world thinks what we do is silly,” Roseberry said. “It’s a boring criticism, and we all argue the opposite, but if you think about it, fashion is silly sometimes. It’s also provocative, disturbing, challenging and meaningful. It’s stunning, it’s beautiful.’

The collection itself is a dramatic dedication to haute couture, corseted velvet corsets, bias-cut dresses supported by threads, asymmetrical silk pajamas revealing breasts, flowing flowers emerging from the neckline or shoulders, exaggerated canopies, paintings hats and hay shawls.

Schiaparelli FW22-23 Haute Couture Collection

Roseberry’s collection was a visual journey through Maison’s archives, but with a notably modern bent. Think Lacroix-inspired draping, giant handmade flowers, puffy ruffles, Cocteau-esque Trompe l’oeils and lots of skin on display, from navel-length draped lingerie dresses and underbust necklines to fully exposed torsos in a series of the chicest ‘naked dresses’ we’ve ever seen.

       Schiaparelli FW22-23 Haute Couture Collection

I always talk about trying to achieve that state of creative innocence—of fighting to stay close to that person who fell in love with fashion and its possibilities, of not succumbing to cynicism or world-weariness,” Roseberry said. “I hope that spirit comes through in this collection: I hope people who see it can tell what fun the team and I had made it. I hope the joy we felt, of creating things, of getting to make beautiful objects that people will always remember, is evident in every coat, dress, and accessory.” Daniel Roseberry.

       Schiaparelli FW22-23 Haute Couture Collection

Moreover, the Creative Designer also revealed the collection was influenced by “the way Elsa dressed,” which entailed meticulous tailoring. Roseberry also described it as “this type of sensual body-conscious and body-obsessed eveningwear, everything structured around the bustier and the corset.”

The neckline of a black velvet jacket cut into a face’s profile and the encrusted Lesage embroidery that she relished in were modest tributes to Elsa Schiaparelli’s own Magical realist inspirations. A pair of earrings dripping bunches of golden grapes and so heavy that they had to be tied with a delicate tiara hair band brought a simple black velvet evening dress that appeared like one of Roseberry’s dramatic design sketches to life into Schiap’s zany universe. Peace doves are being delivered to the collection in 2022.

                Backstage Schiaparelli FW22-23 Haute Couture Collection
Backstage Schiaparelli FW22-23 Haute Couture Collection