Daniel Roseberry says Schiaparelli SS22 isn’t for the celebrities, isn’t for the likes and isn’t for the reviews.
At Schiaparelli, Daniel Roseberry embraces a new kind of dimension, the emptyreal. Opening Paris Haute Couture Week, the American designer orchestrated a conversation about the Universe beyond Earth – the dark cores and the fountain of existence.
In a personal letter about his show, he expressed that the pandemic has led him to redshift his thinking and explore new ways of bringing out the story and emotion behind fashion. He wanted to explore what it meant to craft the story of our existence only with black, white and signature Schiaparelli gold, going on to discuss the importance of clothes - an element that has arguably come to be secondary to the spectacle and hype surrounding a brand. “Designing this collection also made me realise something else. There are designers who design because they love clothes. There are designers who makeclothes because they love the craft, because they love people. There are designers whose work is indebted to fashion as a concept, or to glamour as a business. But I design in order to make people feel something. When clothes and craft and hair and music and the wearer are in harmony together, when they are all trying to communicate something, we can be reminded why we love fashion - why I love fashion. It isn’t for the celebrities. It isn’t for the likes. It isn’t for the reviews. It’s because, when it’s done right, when it has something to tell us, it can help us feel the inarticulable. It’s because it still has the power to move us.”
Opening the collection with a opulently curved black textured wool crepe blazer with an exaggerated shawl collar and a corset belt, the look brought out a sense of restriction and distortion of the body, alluding to Roseberry’s thoughts about how the high priestess of the emptyreal would look like – strong and gentle at the same time. That same mythical priestess would take on the Universe with long tailcoat in satin back faille, embroidered with a vintage Schiaparelli motifs and razor sharp tailoring, with nipped waists and oversized “dove” collars ready to take on any challenge of her fate.
The show’s crescendo reached when in that same emptyreal galaxy, the cascades of ephemeral gold and luscious vintage jewels, in the form of a meticulously moulded jewelled cage dress, would lead the priestess towards emotional catharsis where her rite of passage towards her inner strength and self-love would result in the greatest gift of all – her, loving and appreciating every ounce of her being for who she is.
Daniel Roseberry is not just a visionary designer. He carves beautiful art morphed into stories that we all can identify with, that speak to each one of us. Like a modern day healer, he feels the emotion of the world, whilst allowing it to grow beyond this Earth. His creations are a mirror and a map for the future at the same time. Like an orchestra conductor, he crafts his designs to speak the supernatural stories into existence, whilst always bringing it back to the main human psychology of existence - love for one’s self, and for the world around us.
