By Erin Moonyeen Haley
Fashion maverick Elsa Schiaparelli once said, “in difficult times, fashion is always outrageous.” Under that mantra, there has never been anything remotely restrained about the iconoclast fashionista whose house, (or should we say dynasty?) has always been devoted to pushing boundaries and eradicating conventions.
The supposed arch nemesis of Coco Chanel, (it was Chanel who referred to Schiaparelli as “that Italian artist who is making clothes"), Schiaparelli always stood out from her contemporaries, a legacy still infused in her line to this day.
Her hallmark designs include the Circus Collection where four handmade buttons were made to look like acrobats leaping across a peony-pink jacket, and the tears dress, a viscose rayon and silk-blend marocain gown that was a collaboration between Schiaparelli and Salvador Dali.
Today, Schiaparelli’s artistic director Daniel Roseberry has brought his own brand of quirk to the extravagant label. A Texas native, Roseberry has spent his time resurrecting Schiaparelli’s love of Surrealism, a passion that is clearly evident in the 2023 lineup that thrilled celebrities and fashion mavens like Karlie Kloss, Rita Ora and Kylie Jenner at the Hôtel d’Evreux in Place Vendome.
Many of the pieces have a distinctly gilded 1980s motif, one that infuses the ordinary with the extraordinary. The result is the fulfillment of Roseberry's thesis that the purpose of fashion is for the everyday to be injected with the extraordinary; the mundane to have a fever dream of the fancy. This has resulted in a ready-to-wear collection that features iconic statement pieces such as oversized gold belt buckles and gold corsets that give the kind of boss vibes last championed by Madonna in her Jean Paul Gaultier corset.
Other looks cater to the professional with a Cleopatra edge, courtesy of crisp white blouses with Egyptian designs that could be mistaken for snakes or sinuous sun rays. Paired with a slim black skirt and gold sunglasses, the mood is both dominant and self-assured.
Roseberry also played with the inherent sexiness of the feminine form in a way that was pure meta. Models donned silky azure dresses and high-cut black swimsuits that were in turn plastered with the gold imprint of breasts, belly and thighs, allowing female ownership of the body to be two-fold.
Clinched black dresses with gold glitter outlining the female physique also created bold accents that beg a viewer to look closer, while also providing a type of background to flaunt supersized gold necklaces and black bags with gold handprints.
With Schiaparelli's memory still alive and well, the mood of fashion is destined to remain accessibly eccentric and gilded from top to bottom, and in all the spaces in between.
Images courtesy of Vogue Runway
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