Schiaparelli’s Couture Show Was Based on Famous Artworks

Last week, Marc Jacobs’s three-minute runway featured nonsensical show notes written by ChatGPT. Today, at Schiaparelli’s haute couture spring 2023 show, Daniel Roseberry used his to write about how we are living in a time where plenty of fashion isn’t created by, ‘human hand or minds,’ and how most of it will ‘be forgotten by tomorrow.’ This thought inspired him to create a collection that was, ‘aggressively, unmistakably human—and to be rooted in artistic references that feel timeless.’

When people think of Schiaparelli, they don’t typically use the word human. And when they debate if fashion can truly ever be considered art, they cite Roseberry’s designs as proof that it should be. His Schiaparelli is made up of surrealist works of craftsmanship that feel divine. They feel too good for our own reality.

Today, each piece was inspired by an artist like Lucian Freud, Yves Klein, Dali or Miro. But what I found myself particularly enamoured with wasn’t a specific reference but the way each look appeared on the models as if it was painted on.

Mona Tougaard opened the show in a dress with a collar that wrapped around her neck and torso like a brushstroke, the side of her skirt jetting out and floating alongside her like a suspended paint drop. Matty Fall’s face and chest was literally painted in the deep blue of a Yves Klein, accessorised with a 24k gold leaf imposed with the face of a Schiaparelli artisan. She held her skirt up at her waist with both hands, its sides peeling off at her belly button like a blossoming flower. Another model wore a beige two piece set that looked like a dollop of whipped cream cut in half, gathering at the shoulders, hips and knees like ruched froth.

The looks felt as otherworldly as usual, but Roseberry noted they had all come together within days of the show. They were not ‘head-to-toe formulas’ that had been laboured over for months. Each one filled me with the same awe that overcomes my body when I stand in front of a particularly beautiful painting at a museum—and with the relief that comes from knowing they were put together with the kind of artful spontaneity that only a human could create.