Enchanted by Schiaparelli

In the fashion world, where everything feels so fast, the haute couture is the only refuge. This is the playground of Daniel Roseberry, who has been triumphantly returning Schiaparelli back on the fashion map for the last six years (yes, time flies!). The collection, he showed on Monday morning at Petit Palais, opening the couture week in Paris, was no exception. A gorgeous fashion story, crafted by the most talented artisans from Place Vendôme, and a poignant look at the world we live in today. Welcome to the world of couture by Daniel Roseberry.

Entitled “Icarus” after the iconic personage of Greek mythology who flew too close to the sun and fell to his death (last season Roseberry chose Phoenix as the symbol of his collection, so it feels like a continuation of the flying fire theme), the Haute Couture spring-summer 2025 collection is an ode to the beauty of old things that feel new to our eyes. The inspiration came from a box of vintage ribbons, dating back to the 1920s and 1930s, that Daniel found in an antique shop (and actually used for some of the ball gowns in his collection). He then constructed the whole collection around the colours of these ribbons: think, butters, saffrons, faded peacock greens and brunt saffron browns. And thinking about the best couturiers of the time Charles Frédéric Worth, Madame Grès, and Paul Poiret but also their successors like Yves Saint Laurent or Azzedine Alaïa. So this collection is a bow not only to the great Elsa Schiaparelli but also to the whole gang of great designers that made Paris the capital of haute couture.

Daniel Roseberry masterfully plays with shapes and fashion epoques: the curvy forms from the 1920s and 1930s find shape in fragile silk georgette embroidered with Japanese bugle beads, while the boxy jackets from the 1940s are paired with 1990s-style simple bias-cut floor-length column skirts in double satins. What is more, Daniel also experiments with techniques: for one of the majestic ball gowns, he recreated monkey fur, popular in the 1930s, with the help of ostrich feathers bathed in glycerin that gave them bigger weight, which was later brushed with keratin. There is also a powerful homage to some of Elsa’s more refined gowns, such as a plissé halter in sand-coloured polyamide tulle, which gives it an integrity, weight, and modernity that would be impossible to achieve with modern silks. And there are also corsets, debatable for the 21st century, as many of the editors who attended the show noticed, but that do produce a stunning effect. Especially when crafted from toile, covered in fine layers of wool and cotton, topped by silk satin. A masterpiece.

So why did Daniel choose one of the most tragic figures in Greek mythology, Icarus, who flew too close to the sun, to incarnate his new collection? Well, for Roseberry haute couture is always a deeply personal affair. “You make Haute Couture for love, of course. You also, however, do it for duty,” the designer mused in his show notes that were waiting for us on our chairs when we arrived at Le Petit Palais's halls. “I never forget that I got to helm what is perhaps the last great Maison to have been resurrected. It’s my joy, but also my responsibility, to keep making the work better. Haute Couture aspires to reach great heights; it promises an escape from our complicated reality. It also reminds us that perfection comes at a price. How high can we couturiers go? As high as the sun—and the Gods—allow us”.

A genius, isn’t he?  

Courtesy: Schiaparelli

Text: Lidia Ageeva