By Erin Moonyeen Haley
The Schiaparelli website has a self-declaration that tells the world all it needs to know:
"All of us who work in fashion know that much of the rest of the world thinks that what we do is silly. It's a boring criticism, and we all argue otherwise, but if you think about it, fashion is silly at times. It's also provocative, upending, challenging, and meaningful. It's breathtaking. It's beautiful."
Such metacognition is rare in the world of performative fashion, but Daniel Roseberry is quite aware of what he wants from the epic fashion label and how to get there. In the wake of the provocation of the faux-taxidermy wolf, lion and snow leopard heads, he has created a display where he has hit the sweet spot between ready-to-wear and haute couture. It's a strange arithmetic, but it exists in Schiaparelli's Paris Fashion Week extravaganza simply because the glamour is tantalizingly there, and yet it comes with an accessibility and a relatable silliness that promises to electrify any prosaic wardrobe. In essence, the world of day-to-day dress is thus rescued by all the avant-garde details one longs for upon hearing Schiaparelli's name.
If the sign of a superlative designer is in their attention to detail, Rosenberry - who has been with the Schiaparelli line for 3 years - has proven to have that subtle, immaculate touch. Beyond the keyhole cutouts and measuring tape embroidery, costumes were offset with baroque gold jewelry with watchful eyes that matched purses that also had oversized pupils one expects to see glowering from ancient stones that signify the worship of mighty - or comical - deities. Gold bangles made their own music as they crashed a party on several wrists while cuff bracelets - also carrying keyhole impressions - made a more formidable statement. Then of course there were the earrings in the shape of ears and earrings embroidered with lips.
Were the looks daring? Yes, indeed. Might you see them on the streets?
Absolutely. After all, that's the whole point.
The shoes continued the trend of eccentrisizing the everyday with the outlandish. Black stockings and black heels carried the Midas touch, courtesy of the just-dipped-in-liquid-gold look that immortalized the toes in priceless precision.
As for the garments themselves, each outfit perfectly upheld the thesis that even the most surreal garments can be apropos for a ready-to-wear line, and that one need not abstain from individualist glamour just because the occasion might be mundane.
Onlookers were treated to a world of possibility in the form of voluminous sleeves, gold statement buttons, keyhole cutouts and velvet mini-dresses. While the oversized faux mink black coats gave the aura of a damned heroine in a Tolstoy novel, the crisp hats tilted at a near-ninety-degree angle seemed to hint at a royal funeral where chic solemnity was required.
~ Images Courtesy of Vogue