As luxury grapples with its worst crisis in 15 years, many designers are embracing minimalism as an antidote to overstuffed wardrobes. Not Daniel Roseberry.
The Schiaparelli designer kicked off Paris Couture Week with a celebration of opulence rooted in historic forms and turn-of-the-century embroidery techniques. Not since the 1950s have so many models been poured into corsets, which underpinned almost every look.
“I’m over the idea that minimalism equals modernism, and so I found that my eye was hungry and thirsting for something that was a bit less streamlined, a bit more worked,” Roseberry said backstage.
In the absence of a defining Schiaparelli look, the designer has made the hourglass shape — a nod to the house’s Shocking fragrance bottle shaped like a dressmaker’s model — a signature of his tenure at the house.
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He toyed with extreme volumes, with jackets with low orbital necklines exposing brassieres, exploding bustle backs, and the impossibly small waistlines that have become de rigueur since Ozempic heralded a return of size 0 on the red carpet.
Corsets came with artificially enhanced hip bones: sleek and futuristic, in the case of a sleeveless top in pale stretch satin worn over plain black pants, or opulent, via a nude mesh dress worn by Kendall Jenner, which was swathed in pearl gray embroidered satin gathered into a dramatic sculpted train, in a fresh take on Gilded Age pomp.
Roseberry said the color scheme — think dusty nudes, faded greens and burnt saffron browns — was inspired by a visit to an antique shop with an inventory of ribbons from the 1920s and ‘30s. Layers of satin ribbons were twisted around the body in mille-feuille constructions that brought to mind Naomi Watts’ dress at the Golden Globes.
The result was less conceptual than in recent seasons, though just as inventive, with much of the construction invisible to the naked eye. By alternating graphic lines and dense embellishment, Roseberry struck just the right balance of rigor and fantasy — as Yves Saint Laurent once described founder Elsa Schiaparelli’s style.
He titled the collection “Icarus,” not as a cautionary tale but as a tribute to the transporting power of haute couture.
“It’s the promise of escape — because he was looking to escape — and I just think that’s what couture can offer its audience and its clients: it’s the promise of just 15 minutes of a suspended reality,” Roseberry said.
The show ended with the Carly Simon song “Let the River Run,” which famously plays at the end of the ‘80s movie “Working Girl.”
“I mean, who doesn’t love that song?” he said. “After what happened in the States and California and everything, I just felt like the biggest gift I could give everybody was to leave on a high note, with a song that you have, hopefully, great memories with.” Thanks for the earworm.
