Schiaparelli 23 Couture is more about three-dimensional sculpting than surrealist motifs. While animal heads stole the show, masculine tailoring marked femininity
Entering Dante Alighieri’s Inferno. Schiaparelli’s homage to Divine Comedy
Fashion used to belong to wanderers; now it looks like it is in the hands of moralists. Daniel Roseberry’s Spring 23 Couture collection stirred up polemics with its inspiration from Dante Alighieri’s Inferno. Wasn’t the Divine Comedy addressing a hypocritical society as well? Without any doubt, the metaphoric message and the immaculate craftsmanship got lost in the general public’s discussions about hunting ethics, borrowed by many journalists.
The collection, however, went beyond the wild taxidermy pieces, showing the versatility of Schiaparelli’s creative director. At the helm of the fashion house since 2019, Daniel Roseberry has always soaked his looks in sumptuosity and provocative sophistication. For the Spring 23 Couture, we witness a softer, more introspective side of his design. A champagne nude nightgown with delicate straps, see-through black dresses, and an almost matador-inspired ensemble – every piece transpired nostalgic romanticism.
It felt like an anthem dedicated to the love artists share with their creations. While intimate and poetic, the Couture ensembles were also witty and sharp, with overly squared silhouettes and exaggerated proportions. Some of the suits even shared a comic resemblance with Tom’s (Tom and Jerry) ridiculously wide, stripped costume.
Lions, leopards and 90s supermodels
Held at the halls of the Petit Palais in Paris, the show holds onto a solemn atmosphere, pulling the gaze towards the mannequins swanly exhibiting the garments. No wonder the shock that came with the lion, leopard, and she-wolf massive heads hanging from the dresses worn by the 90′ supermodels. It instigates a sort of pagan terror contrasting with any Schiaparelli stereotype. Sadly enough, a fashion house built on the effervescence of dreamscapes and the power upheld by metaphor in surrealist art doesn’t seem to belong in an era of sterile information.
Daniel Roseberry’s couture collection is an ode to creation
Nobody can see behind the doors of breathtaking creations. Today, like many years ago, artists and designers carry a god-like position, untouched by worldly struggles. Schiaparelli Spring Couture hints at blank spaces and a sense of doubt. It confronted and comforted the artist’s fear of misplacement. The intent behind any fashion collection is questionable, especially when everyone’s aware fashion produces more than enough garments every season.
Since necessity is rarely a design’s priority, Couture has to justify itself with unparalleled, repeated awes. «There is no ecstasy of creation without the torture of doubt» confirms Daniel Roseberry. And this is where he saw the opportunity to shift from this hell-like sensation. In Dante’s Alighieri 14th century masterpiece, he has to pass the nine circles of the Inferno to arrive in Paradise. The story can be translated into many connotations, forever relevant for its universal meaning.
«What appealed to me in the Inferno wasn’t just the theatrics of Dante’s creation—it was how perfect a metaphor it provided for the torment that every artist or creative person experiences when we sit before the screen or the sketchpad or the dress form when we have that moment in which we’re shaken by what we don’t know».
Daniel Roseberry’s allegorical fashion show
Couture is much more about emotions and storytelling than most fashion endeavors. It can mimic going to the theater or the opera and being entertained from the inside out. To assist at a staged performance used to take up the value of learning, experimenting with new thoughts and feelings.
Otherwise, why would we bother to contemplate art? The creative crisis has to do with an overly requested sense of logic. Through democratization, it stretches to communicate with everybody. A lion for pride, a Leopard for lust, and a Wolf for avarice. Daniel Roseberry had to explain how they represented the rise from moments of despair.
«I didn’t want it to be literal at all. We’re not going into the nine circles of hell and meeting Satan at the end. That’s not the point. But the point was Dante himself and this story about trial, tribulation, doubt, and that you have to experience all of that to get to paradise».
Wooden bustiers and leather sequins
One of the most intriguing pieces at the Schiaparelli Couture show was the glossy foot toes shoes. Doja Cat came wearing the same design in a bright red as the rest of her outfit. The models walked in black or creamy, high beneath the ankle or decoltè heels resembling masculine feet.
They were meant to be subtle while disruptive, a piece to evoke Elsa Schiaparelli’s thrill of integrating human body parts in her references. To steal the show was a gigantic bronzed sculpted head styled with a black doux-piece. A surrealistic, tiny bag in black and gold carried the features of a face, reminding the original fashion house’s designs.
Surrealism and Hyper-realism in Schiaparelli 2023 Couture show
«In 2023, the Surrealism is actually in the photorealistic quality», the creative director explains, justifying the substitution of trompe l’oeil prints with more tree dimensional elements. The jewelry was even more stunning than some garments, envisioning disproportioned year motifs for earrings and amber rings or necklaces.
With a soft color palette focusing on neutral tones, a wooden brown dress sculpted from lemon tree marquetry was uncanny. Minuscule peepholes appeared on leather gloves, velvet corset dresses, or even on the shoe vamp. Frizzling nipple piercing hung from a nude bustier paired with a hyper-high wasted skirt in varnished, creamy scalys.
Genderless codes and the post-Phoebe Philo world
With many masculine silhouettes paired with exaggerated decolletages, it seems that Daniel Roseberry wanted an elevated femininity, one that conquered gender dress codes. His thoughts go to Phoebe Philo and her mark on modern-day aesthetics.
«I always say to myself we live in a post-Phoebe Philo world. Everyone’s brains changed, designer and customer, and I don’t want to chase that aesthetic because it’s the white whale. But I do love that raw, real woman who needs to speak just as loud as the lion on her shoulder».
Craftsmanship and Couture. An Israeli artist made faux furs
Perfectly sculpted details, harmonious textures, and shapes intertwinement – Schiaparelli Couture starred the techniques behind every carefully architected piece. It is a rare example of elaborated simplicity with the designer outlining classic elements that require meticulous precision.
To produce the extravagant creature heads, the fashion house collaborated with an Israeli artist, who sculpted the whole pieces by hand, using resin and embroidered faux fur. As stated on the official Schiaparelli Instagram page, no animal was harmed in the design process. The artisan went to high lengths to achieve a veritable result that would sustain a memorable impact.
«Part of the joy of couture is working with artisans who are of a certain age, who are the masters, and then giving them a challenge. This man who can make this has never made a garment». Daniel Roseberry tries to emphasize the mastery of people outside fashion. Their contribution to couture pieces makes a difference, and the 2023 Spring collection remains a way of honoring that.
Schiaparelli Couture Spring 23
Haute Couture Spring Summer 2023 collection by Schiaparelli, with Daniel Roseberry chooses to translate the dreamlike and sacred dimension of his latest creations into a carousel with an ‘animalistic’ matrix.
