After two years of life interrupted by the pandemic, few of us want to dress dull. The discreet and comfortable confinement wardrobe horrifies us and Schiaparelli’s [site] artistic director, Daniel Roseberry, was one of the first to understand our need for the spectacular. History puts him in the shoes of Elsa Schiaparelli, the brand’s founder, who reintroduced joy into clothing in the aftermath of the First World War.
To create the ready-to-wear and accessories collection for SS23, Daniel Roseberry says he chose the terrace of the famous Il Pellicano in Porto Ercole as a form of observatory. Sitting in front of the sea, he recalls watching the way women from all over the world dressed – for a day at the beach and later for drinks and dinner. “I realized I was creating a uniform for them in my head: stark strokes of colour in sharp but roomy silhouettes, embellished with unapologetically glamorous bijoux,” he remembers.
Roseberry told himself then that it was not fair that ready-to-wear be reduced to practical clothes, and that the concept of clothing “for every day” be necessarily easy, lazy and deprived of fantasy. He then decided to embark on a collection of pieces whose mission would be to work hard for the woman who wore them, and adapt to her life and her needs. “Here you will find exquisite confections rendered in the finest fabrics, with all the wit and signatures – our riffs on human anatomy, our jewelry, special elements such as trompe-l’oeil hair, as well as iconic codes like the tape measure embroidered with golden silk that you would like to find in our couture”, says the designer.
Jewellery in hammered gold and coloured stones, as well as bags, in particular the Facebag decorated with elements of a human face, play an essential role in this collection. Their character is replete with Schiaparelli’s DNA. The jewellery’s timelessness is reminiscent of couture jewellery found in antique shops. There is also the brand’s classic padlock bag, which now comes in every material from crocodile to nappa leather marked with 24k gold leaf hand prints.
She didn’t know how to sew, but she revolutionized fashion. Elsa Schiaparelli, although an aristocrat, was anything but conventional. Abandoned by her husband, who left her for the famous dancer Isadora Duncan, she entered the community of Parisian Surrealist artists. It was with the complicity of Dali, Cocteau or Giacometti that she created extraordinary clothes. For her, a lack of money did not justify the lack of elegance or self-expression. Her freedom was translated into quirky pieces where new patterns were found. She reproduced elements of human anatomy: hands, mouth, nose, ears; there a giant lobster. Among her favorite motifs, we also find the Snake, the Heart, African tribal elements. Above all, she dazzled the crazy interwar period with the most daring shade ever worn: Rose Shocking, which will remain her signature colour.
More than dressing us, Schiaparelli makes us a conversation piece.
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