Paris Haute Couture Week: Schiaparelli fuels the buzz

Daniel Roseberry’s spring-summer 2024 haute couture show for Schiaparelli opened the ball in style. This latest dazzling display of creativity is fuelling a rumour: is Lvmh going to buy back the once sleepy House that has come back to life?

Schiaparelli certainly has a knack for intrigue and buzz…

The latest Schiaparelli haute couture spring-summer 2024 show, on January 23, featured Daniel Roseberry’s never-ending imagination. His extraordinary silhouettes, straight out of cult sci-fi films, made a powerful impression on the still untouched eyes of the Paris catwalks on this first day.

Standing ovation

The Happy Few guests – stars, buyers, journalists – gave the brand’s artistic director a standing ovation. Personalities such as former First Lady and model Carla Bruni, singer Jennifer Lopez and actresses Zendaya, Hunter Schafer, Géraldine Nakache and Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu (Emily In Paris) all added to the electric, ultra-instagrammable atmosphere.

The artistic director’s demonstration was so dazzling that it fuelled rumours that the Lvmh group wanted to buy the Maison from Italian Diego Della Valle…

A taste for space

For this new show, the American designer chose Elsa Schiaparelli’s taste for space as the main theme.

The discovery in 1877 of a series of canals on the surface of Mars by Giovanni Schiaparelli, director of the Brera observatory in Milan, had in fact triggered in her niece Elsa a tropism for the sky and stars, very present in her collections. This cosmic inspiration was also present.

An avid movie buff, Daniel Roseberry also added a healthy dose of “Alien”-style cinematic inspiration to his creations, as well as a few very earthy references (like these black patent leather santiags) to his own Texan origins, while drawing on the haute couture savoir-faire of the Maison’s small hands.

The surrealism so dear to Schiaparelli served to bind these often unusual associations.

Spectacular and glamorous

Daniel Roseberry has a knack for creating highly sophisticated, feminine outfits, while at the same time adding uncommon details, notably oversized or high-tech. These sometimes give the silhouettes a spectacular catwalk connotation… But most of the time, we can just imagine these outfits being transported to the red carpets of Cannes or Hollywood… The integration of Swarovski crystals, tassels and other feathers sublimates their glamour.

Among the looks in the first, most extraordinary category, stands out this straight dress all in white lace, with the upper part flying out of the frame like two gigantic dove wings. Or, in the same spirit, a white silk ball skirt topped by a black lace bustier that also unfurls like a bird. Another catwalk silhouette: a simple black dress topped by an oversized folding screen with pointed mega-shoulders and cascading beige-gold tassels.