While Elsa Schiaparelli was in her teens, advancements in various fields, including audio recordings, motion pictures, transportation and communication, were taking place. In Palmer White's book, "Elsa Schiaparelli: Empress of Paris Fashion," the author recounts how the designer was fascinated by bicycling and motor-racing while growing up and also developed an interest in the passion of the Futurists for the Machine Age. In later years this theme was translated in designs for a dynamic woman favouring physical activities and sports, but also in an interest in modern materials.
When she visited the United States in 1919, Schiaparelli was also impressed by the new technologies, the objects and gadgets of modern daily life. Compared to the United States where the technological future was already happening in the present, Europe, in her opinion, was outdated. As the years passed, Schiaparelli's futuristic convictions and her fascination with the speed of new means of transport, from cars to airplanes, informed her "Display No. 1". Showcased in 1927, this collection of knitwear, separates and accessories, was indeed characterized by simple lines, bold forms and strong colours, geometrical abstractions and futuristic treatments.
Fast-forward to last week when, at Paris Haute Couture Week, Daniel Roseberry presented his take on Schiaparelli's own fascination with machines and the future. There were also other inspirations, from hints to Hollywood films, with references to horses, a theme tackled by Schiaparelli in the '30s (which is rapidly turning into a trend for the next seasons).
According to Roseberry, memories distinguish human beings from machines: the unique blend of memories, almost a sort of DNA code embedded in a fashion house, produces something unique and original that, dissected and re-analysed, can point at different inspirations and ideas (yet that can be said of Artificial Intelligence too…a prompt in a text-to-image application can indeed produce a new image composed from bits and pieces - "memories" the system was trained upon - chewed, digested and regurgitated).
This inspiration generated the motherboard dress encrusted with technological detritus from the '90s to the early 2000s, from mobile flip phones to a Casio calculator, interspersed with faux gems, CDs and a computer fan instead of a breast.
Rather than a way to show how circuits can be recycled like artists have been doing for at least a decade (think about artist Steven Rodrig's e-waste sculptures View this photo), the gown redefined the sensual gynoid's body, usually conceived as a male fantasy, into a magnet for retro techno-electronic trash. The design was a way for the designer to react to people on social media who have been experimenting with Schiaparelli's collections and remixing them via AI, something that pushed back Roseberry to the prehistoric times of technology. In a way, though, it came out as the couture version of something you may see at the World of Wearable Art (WOW) competition, minus the fun of the WOW creations (motherboard circuits already appeared in designs by a luxury house - in Louis Vuitton's A/W 18 collection, that included designs with Western/technological references, there were handbags and totes printed with computer motherboard circuits View this photo).
The assemblage of composite retro materials was also used to decorate a bedazzled toddler, an Artificial Intelligence inspired tech baby carried by Maggie Maurer wearing an off-white tank top in rubbed jersey, inside out couture cargo pants (vaguely hinting at Schiaparelli's "Cash & Carry" collection), horsehair appliqued stripes and cowboy boots with embossed pierced ears. Her look was a tribute to Sigourney Weaver as Ripley in "Alien" (shame the baby conjured up in many of us memories of Frank Ocean at the 2021 Met Gala carrying an alien baby with a radioactive complexion, looks like the rule is still valid - when in doubt, always accessorise the collection with kids - human, alien or robotic is always fine…).
The collection was actually entitled "Schiaparalien", a word that also highlighted Elsa's fascination with technology and astrology (her uncle Giovanni Schiaparelli, the director of the Brera Observatory in Milan, discovered a series of channels scoring the surface of Mars; according to the collection press release, he also coined the term "martian") and Roseberry's fascination with the film "Alien". The latter introduced the Hollywood glamour theme, exemplified also by the soundscape combining "Alien" and "Oppenheimer".
For these gowns Roseberry was inspired by the sculptural constructions of Charles James and the volumes of Cristóbal Balenciaga, but also by a show of Azzedine Alaïa’s private collection of vintage Haute Couture garments that he saw at the Palais Galliera fashion museum (that inspired him the neutral color palette for the collection).
This section included draped and knotted gowns, a fringed version of the skeleton dress (but the bone theme was also clear in the exoskeleton necklace that formed a protruding spine evoking H. G. Giger's aliens) and a bulbous pink duchesse satin puffball dress with an asymmetrical black sweep that seemed to counterbalance the rigidity of the other designs.
One evening gown with a keyhole cut-out on the torso, completely covered the model from head to toe with cascades of pearlescent petals. The design evoked a Fall 1938 evening cape in white and aquamarine silk organdy petals from the Pagan collection. The item in question was inspired by mythological figures and by Ovid's "Metamorphoses" and featured petals sewn individually onto gauze that transformed the wearer into a creature half-tree, half-human chimera calling to mind the myth of Philemon and Baucis with Daphne transformed into a laurel tree.
Among the Hollywood references there were also hints at Westerns, cowboys and horses. Roseberry may be a fan of "Westworld", but he also hails from Texas, hence the embroidered bandana motif and the thigh-high cowboy boots.
Besides, horses also appeared in Schiap's "Prancing Horses" bolero ("Circus" collection, 1938) and in her "Bucking Bronco" beaded waistcoat (View this photo and View this photo) inspired by her 1940 trip to Texas (auctioned at Christie's over ten years ago). In this collection horses were absorbed into the designs rather than replicated as embroideries: models donned black asymmetrical jackets in openwork wool crepe, cropped jackets and bombers with three-dimensional silk satin knotted spikes inspired by dressage braids (speaking of movies, that wouldn't have looked out of place in the wardrobe of Pinhead out of "Hellraiser"…), with long tails attached to the garment. Zendaya's outfit was to be filed under the equestrian theme in this collection.
Further Western inspirations (there seems to be a Western trend as well, if we consider also Pharrell Williams' Western-inspired A/W 24 menswear collection for Louis Vuitton…) materialized as long fringes, tassels and cowboy-inspired belt buckles forming a corset and a mini-skirt or used to construct the sleeves of a biker jacket and decorate the sides of a pair of pants. Other elements from Schiaparelli's codes, including keyholes and measuring tape, were scattered here and there, in the jewelry and accessories.
Roseberry is credited with successfully embodying these surrealist and whimsical house codes through a modern lens, and carrying on the legacy of Elsa Schiaparelli by combining classic techniques (over-embroidered guipure laces, velvet and lace appliqués) with new shapes, patterns, and references.
As announced earlier on this week, he is also set to receive the 2024 Neiman Marcus Award for Creative Impact in the Field of Fashion, celebrating his "unrivaled creativity and craftsmanship and bridging art with fashion" (the award echoes the recognition bestowed in 1940 upon Elsa Schiaparelli – the Neiman Marcus Award for Distinguished Service in the Field of Fashion). For Texas-born Roseberry, Neiman Marcus, being based in Dallas, holds significance.
But, if you knew Schiap's lexicon, you would get the impression that at times the designer played more on exaggerating (or exasperating) certain codes than on reinventing them. At times, Roseberry creates rigid armours that cage and trap women, while Schiaparelli was more about transmitting the idea of armour via print, or maybe employing an unsetting element (such as insects).
An in-depth knowledge of the house codes will allow you to realise that the opening black shiny vinyl look with a white collar is the fetish re-edition of a dress with a white crocheted collar Schiap wore in 1940 in a Vogue photoshoot (View this photo); a black liquid gown with a matching veil seemed to reproduce the silhouette of the Tear Dress, minus the surrealist print; the oversized bell-shaped sleeves evoked memories of a silk satin taffeta gown with a large sculpted sleeve from Winter 1952-53, while a Fall 1949 bustier by Schiap with a vertical construction was reinterpreted in Roseberry's by now trademark rigid bustiers that hide the wearer's face in his collections for Schiaparelli.
What remains puzzling about Roseberry's collections for Schiaparelli is the lack of a precise narrative that anchors the pieces. You can tell a story in a myriad of ways and pepper it along the way with references to the past and the archives, but you must still own the story and employ solid narrative points that help you developing the different threads into a coherent plot.
Roseberry seems focused on creating highly crafted pieces derived from Schiap's lexicon, but you get the felling that the story is developed afterwards almost to justify what he designed (remember Dante's allegory of the three beasts that seemed a last-minute excuse to justify the lion, leopard and wolf evening gowns on Schiaparelli's S/S 23?).
Another puzzling situation is the fact that Schiaparelli's modern collections seem to have lost the fun and irony of its founder. Schiaparelli was arty and surrealist, but also very ironic. Aside from a beaded gown with a questionable trompe l'oeil motif of a man's briefs (View this photo), here irony was missing. Schiaparelli's new woman is so much into art that is risking of turning into a sculpture, a static statue; she doesn't smile and often hides behind gowns in which the bodice has turned into an oversized metal frame covered in lace or in rigid panels with the suppleness of a Coromandel screen. Well, who knows, maybe the 1% of the global population of this world that can afford Haute Couture is deeply serious and unhappy, so maybe they're into these highly crafted yet at times oppressive styles.
Up to this point, Roseberry has successfully transformed Schiaparelli into an Instagram sensation and reinstated its status as a popular choice on the red carpet.
However, beyond the initial 24 hours post-show when Instagram users share their preferred images of the designs and the front-row celebrities (Zendaya, Hunter Schafer, and Jennifer Lopez in this case), analyzing a collection, expressing admiration or criticism, and browsing through numerous red carpet pictures featuring celebrities adorned in Roseberry's creations, Schiaparelli lacks a compelling raison d'être.
In a nutshell, there is currently no fragrance or makeup line capable of significantly boosting revenue and attracting a less affluent yet passionate market to the Schiaparelli brand. Perhaps, in the future, we may witness reissues of Schiap's most iconic fragrances paired with a striking shocking pink lipstick. Until then, Roseberry might consider exploring the transformation of the brand's rigid armors into softer and more wearable garments. Schiaparelli's original pieces often exuded a soft and fluid appearance, providing protection through distinctive prints and surreal motifs, rather than confining wearers behind stiff screens and cylindrical structures.
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