Like the Greek myth of Icarus, Schiaparelli took flight at Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week, displaying its golden ambition in the Petit Palais lobby. The house's creative director, Daniel Roseberry, did not want to advise us about the danger of getting too close to the sun, on the contrary, he showed us his desire to fly higher and higher. The Icarus collection is a yearning to raise fashion to the top, ignoring the fear of falling.
Thirty-three looks full of extravagance and inspiration. Feathers dipped in glycerine and brushed with keratin took us back to the thirties, reminiscent of Ginger Rogers' suits. Tight corsets and sharp, tapering hips created a structured, curvaceous silhouette reminiscent of the early decades of the 19th century. Schiaparelli's classic blazer, cut in ultra-suede and embroidered with silk satin threads, perfectly exemplifies the collection's idea of demonstrating that modernity need not be simple. As well as winding dresses made from ribbons from the 1920s and 1930s that Roseberry discovered in an antique shop that became the starting point for this collection.
Roseberry Haute Couture unfolds in shades that oscillate between light and shadow: golds that catch the rays of sunlight entering the foyer of the Musée des Beaux-Arts in the French capital, and deep blacks, as dark as those that hide beneath it. A palette of colours reminiscent of a Renaissance painting, warm tans, faded peacock greens, butter, and beiges. Pearls of mother-of-pearl set in dresses, necklaces, and earrings; Japanese bugle beads; and crystals adorned some of the pieces, reflecting the flashes of light.
The invitation to the fashion show, a golden feather, is not only a reference to the myth of Icarus but also poses a question: when does ambition cease to be ambition and become excess in fashion? Roseberry seems to answer this question with a collection that is not afraid to challenge the limits of craftsmanship, drawing references from great masters such as Madame Grès, Charles Frederick Worth, Paul Poiret, and Azzedine Alaïa. “I didn't want to copy their work; I wanted to learn from them,” he explains.
Another detail that did not go unnoticed was the Micro Anatomy Jewelry Bag, an icon of the house that pays tribute to Cocteau and the collaboration between Elsa and Dalí. This accessory stood out in look seventeen and was also worn by some of the show's guests, such as Kelly Rutherford, Regina King, and Farida Khelfa.
Roseberry, like Icarus, is not afraid of heights. “I'm so tired of everyone constantly identifying modernity with simplicity,” he confesses. For him, Haute Couture doesn't mean limiting himself but taking risks. Icarus is his answer, a demonstration that modernity is not to be found in contention but in the vertigo of always aiming higher. His couture is excess; it's desire; it's the tireless search for perfection. But how far can fashion go before it falls victim to its own ambition?
