With preparations for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games in full swing, many couture houses have had to forgo their usual show venues this season.
In the case of Schiaparelli, which kicked off Paris Couture Week on Monday, that meant trading the soaring nave of the Petit Palais for a darkened den in the basement of the Hôtel Salomon de Rothschild.
As summer finally broke out after a week of blustery weather, guests descended into a black-carpeted room dimly lit by three crystal chandeliers.
“I’ve always wanted to do a show with the Degas lighting and so this was the opportunity,” said creative director Daniel Roseberry, referring to the Impressionist painter famed for his paintings of ballet dancers.
“I really wanted it to be a more cinematic experience, whereas the Petit Palais feels like going to church,” added the designer, still hoarse after losing his voice while prepping for the show.
With the change of setting came a change of mood. Known for creating attention-grabbing moments both on and off the runway, Roseberry periodically likes to mark a reset by toning down colors and volume and stripping away his signature gold hardware.
Kylie Jenner still caused a sensation by showing up in an ultra-tight blush pink corset dress that gave major cleavage, with her face shrouded in a crinoline veil. Her boudoir-themed look set the tone for the sultry collection, which was rooted in the world of dance.
The hourglass underpinnings hark back to the Shocking perfume bottle that Surrealist artist Leonor Fini created for founder Elsa Schiaparelli in the 1930s, though in recent years, they have also become associated with Jean Paul Gaultier.
The show started almost an hour late and unfurled at a leisurely pace, with models pausing at length in front of guests including Doja Cat, Selma Blair and Kelly Rutherford. “I wanted it to feel a bit like a Surrealist hyper-sensualized ballet,” Roseberry explained.
The first look, a black cape with gleaming phoenix wing-shaped shoulders, was inspired by the feathered stole that Schiaparelli once wore in homage to the great ballerina Anna Pavlova, for whom she was often mistaken.
It set the template for looks including a gray wool flannel cape with linebacker shoulders, and a plunging feathery ivory jacket with ultra-wide sleeves.
The amber light glowed off the hammered gold brass pieces covering a black velvet maxi gown, and added depth to 3D thorn embroidery on a narrow bustier dress and a nude mesh bodysuit.
Roseberry alternated between sculptural sheaths made of layers of hand-cut ribbons that fell open at the hips, and explosions of stiff tulle. “I wanted it to feel old and masterful, but then young and kind of twisted at the same time,” he said.
If the music set an elegiac tone, with extracts from the “Blade Runner 2049” soundtrack and Nina Simone’s plaintive “Plain Gold Ring,” Roseberry said he was aiming for a “calm and unaffected” mood to leave the focus on the clothes.
“The pay-off of a social media, break-the-internet moment is so small now. It’s in an instant, so I wanted to do something that felt more timeless,” he said. Until the pendulum swings back the other way, this season was all about embracing the dark side.
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