Fashion House SCHIAPARELLI unveiled Its Fall Winter 2023.24 Haute Couture Collection titled “… And The Artists” with a fashion show held on July 3rd, during the ongoing Paris Fashion Week. Designer Daniel Roseberry approached the new collection in a manner that embraces adventure, exploration, and audacity, in contrast to the previous season’s emphasis on concise and arresting styles. The collection is organic, sensual, and impromptu. It features separates such as a white shirt, perfect pants, oversized puffer jackets, as well as basic knitwear like cardigans and tube skirts. The pieces are not impossible in terms of wearability, but extraordinary, like a surrealist’s interpretation of a woman’s closet essentials. There is a sense of freedom and disobedience because a woman can assemble these elements however she pleases. The majority of looks were put together in the days leading up to the show, as opposed to meticulously planned formulas developed over months.
The entire collection is united by Schiaparelli‘s enduring connection to art and artists – their audacity, use of color, and creative process. Schiaparelli, more than any other fashion house, has always engaged in a dialogue with art, with one form of art inspiring and conversing with another. Each piece in this collection is inspired by a different artist, whether from Elsa Schiaparelli‘s era, the mid-century, or today’s era. For the season, the brand hand-painted a woman’s body with brushstrokes inspired by Lucian Freud and then transferred that image onto a stretch silk bodysuit with each brushstroke rendered in scintillating paillettes. Mirrored mosaic pieces by sculptor Jack Whitten inspired a cardigan and skirt with a broken-mirror pattern. A leather cigarette box adorning the skirt of a gala gown is a clear homage to Sarah Lucas. The deep blue pebble-like crystals and powder that cover various surfaces are an homage to Yves Klein and a reference to Joan Miró’s children’s illustrations. Throughout the collection, there are references to Dali, whose surrealist sunrises inspired flamboyant color gradients, and Matisse, whose palm fronds at the Hotel Regina are now presented as a long-haired black shearling coat. Even a Venus sculpture made of white marble has made its way onto a winter white melton parka. The chaotic brushwork on an oversized, white, laminated puffer garment draws inspiration from the walls of the London studio of Lucian Freud. This collection is heavily influenced by the anguish and ecstasy of creation, yet it offers timeless garments that a woman can treasure for her entire life.
The spirit of defiance and wit extends to this season’s accessories. A new chapter of exquisite jewelry is inspired by the reinterpretation of Giacometti’s monumental sculptures as slender droplets of stone-capped gold. Massive brooches and cuffs were inspired by the cherished forms of Claude Lalanne. Mountain-shaped wooden jewelry makes its debut in the collection. Burl wood hands, plaster white lobsters, and the 24K gold-plated Inauguration Dove, a symbol of optimism, all contribute to the assortment of accessories. The Schiap bag has also been redesigned; it is hand-painted in multicolored alligator, decorated with lightweight wooden beads, or features the brand’s signature “trapunto” technique rendered in strands of white plaster beads and bugle beads approximating measuring tapes. The toe shoes and keyhole shoes have been reduced to their most basic form, with the Maison’s characteristic measuring tape running up the back of the leg – a detail that will be incorporated into future footwear designs.
Weekly, daily, and even hourly, we are bombarded by creativity, internet phenomena, and celebrity trends. Some of these trends are not even the result of human hands or minds, and the majority of them will be forgotten by tomorrow. For this reason, the Schiaparelli Fall Winter 2023.24 Haute Couture Collection is unabashedly and unmistakably human, with a strong foundation in enduring artistic references. Dressing, decorating, and above all, creating, are as primal as any instinct we possess. Faced with the unknown, when creative expression and fame appear to be accessible to all, if only momentarily, the brand asks: What can truly break through? For Schiaparelli, it is the power of design, the expertise of thier craftsmen, and the indomitable force of the human hand at work.
Discover every look from the SCHIAPARELLI Fall Winter 2023.24 Haute Couture Collection in the gallery below:
