Schiaparelli Spring 2024 Couture
Schiaparelli Spring 2024 Couture
By: Emma Greene
During couture week, onlookers are able to embrace the full breadth of designers and creative directors’ imaginations and ability. When creating couture collections, designers do not have to follow the bounds of commercial fashion, allowing their unexpected and potentially impractical ideas to come to light.
Opening the week in Paris, Schiaparelli did not fall short. Daniel Rosberry’s “Schiapparellian” is a surrealist take on the human relationship with technology and our personal histories with an otherworldly twist.
The collection is a nod to Elsa Schiaparelli’s uncle, who is credited with the discovery of Grand Canyon-like structures on the surface of Mars and the coining of the word “martian.” The collection’s craftsmanship and guest list are buzzworthy on their own, but the combination of the two leave Designer and Artistic Director Daniel Roseberry with a collection that is certain to remain on our minds and in fashion news for quite some time.
Once the show’s attendees, including Zendaya, Hunter Schaefer, and Jennifer Lopez, were seated, the presentation opened with a modernized nod to Elsa Schiaparelli herself, as Roseberry recreated one of her iconic looks in vinyl.
In the first 24 hours since its staging, looks six and seven of the collection have garnered significant attention online. The “motherboard” dress in look seven and the crystalline baby doll in look six, both made of pre-2007 computer parts and Swarovski crystals, were combined with “cowboy-inspired” pants and shoes, tying technology to the rugged natural world.
Roseberry leaned into the alien aspect of the show with the “creature dress.” The scaly garment covers the model’s head, adorning it with hand-poured resin eyelashes and hair.
Wild West-inspired items included shoes, belts, and pants, perhaps tied in by the Grand Canyons of both the Earth and Mars. Several of the cowboy-inspired items included braided detailing that stuck straight out from their construction like antennae.
Karlie Kloss modeled a sculptural winged gown featuring pearl-beaded fringe around the neckline. Kloss also donned the iconic “S” heels that were featured in most looks during the show.
True to form for both Schiaparelli and Roseberry, garments were tailored to accentuate the human form. Shifting away from Roseberry’s recent face-inspired pieces, the “skeleton dress” was first imagined in 1936 as the brainchild of Schiaparelli and Salvador Dali. Spinal ornamentation and lacing was a common theme throughout. Aerodynamic sculpturalism including wire “exoskeleton” structures added space travel and alien form into the mix.
Roseberry’s ability to combine and expand upon elements as diverse as the Wild West and outer space proves that the remainder of his tenure at Schiaparelli will both shock and excite the fashion world.
As couture week wraps up in Paris, we at Square are looking forward to the kickoff of fashion month in New York. Keep reading Square Magazine for more fashion coverage. Follow us on Instagram for exclusive content and updates on all things Square.
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