Paris, July 2025
With his latest haute couture presentation, Daniel Roseberry closes one chapter of Schiaparelli in order to rewrite the next. Titled “Back to the Future,” the Fall/Winter 2025 show marked not only a farewell to the familiar aesthetic of the house, but also a bold vision for what lies ahead.
“This was my swan song to the old Schiap,” Roseberry said. “A final embrace of the archive, not to dwell in it but to say goodbye.”
The show unfolded in a monochrome fantasy of black, white, and flashes of red, a deliberate departure from the color-rich palette of Elsa Schiaparelli’s original creations. Silhouettes were sharper, bolder, yet more restrained: bias-cut gowns replaced rigid corsetry; molded shoulders hinted at structure without the exaggeration. The couture here was not about nostalgia it was about evolution.
A New Narrative, Rooted in the Past
One of the show’s central inspirations was Elsa Schiaparelli’s 1940 escape from Nazi occupied Paris to New York. Roseberry dedicated the collection to “a world on the edge” echoing both the tension of that era and the current cultural climate.
“I wanted to show something that was recognizably Schiap without needing the crutches corsets, heavy embroidery. It was time to redefine what the house stands for,” Roseberry explained.
And redefine it he did.
Surrealism Meets Outer Space
Signature surrealist motifs appeared not as relics, but as reinterpretations. A heart,shaped necklace made of red rhinestones pulsed with LED lights, evoking both romanticism and body horror. A metallic matador look conjured David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust, while a tulle cape embroidered with the Fountain of Apollo exploded in cosmic silvers, like stardust trapped in fabric.
Models floated down the runway in upturned flowerpot hats (a nod to Stephen Jones), sculptural bracelets reminiscent of Nancy Cunard, and black-and-white makeup that exaggerated shadows and light like a Man Ray photograph.
Looking Ahead
Roseberry revealed that a restructuring of the Schiaparelli atelier is imminent. “If you want to change the results, you have to change the process,” he said. He sees the future of the house not in replicating the past, but in rebuilding how couture is imagined, created, and felt.
With the closing of this archival trilogy, Schiaparelli stands on the cusp of a new identity: one that honors surrealism while propelling it into space-age territory. From flamenco to futurism, this was not just a show it was a shift.
And now, as the curtain closes on the Schiaparelli we once knew, all eyes are on what Daniel Roseberry will do next.
