At the Centre Pompidou in Paris, Daniel Roseberry showcased Schiaparelli’s ready-to-wear collection. Titled Dancer in the Dark, the show explored the Maison’s surrealist legacy through a palette of black, bone white, and crimson, accentuated by glowing salt stones and trompe-l’œil knits drawn from the creative director’s own sketches. In addition, Elsa Schiaparelli’s surreal wit, often crafted in partnership with Salvador Dalí, reemerged in molten gowns, dreamlike drapery and resurrected icons like the 1938 Tear Dress.
Schiaparelli’s love of trompe-l’œil appears in the form of a black jacquard knit dress sketched with the contours of a woman’s body. Both humorous and sensual, it plays with perception: where does the body end, and where does art begin? Styled with a black leather Face Bag adorned with enameled white anatomical jewels.
In homage to Elsa Schiaparelli’s collaboration with Salvador Dalí, Roseberry reimagines the Tear Dress as a gold halter gown in metallic mesh. Trompe-l’œil fabric shreds embroidered with crystals shimmer across the body, while open-toe boots with gilded eyelets complete the vision of surrealism fused with extravagance.
Volume and transparency is explored through a white jersey ensemble with a draped double-breasted jacket gathered by a gold bijou button, layered over pegged pants of the same fabric. The weightless tailoring contrasts with a glowing salt stone necklace, turning minimalism into a statement.
In a second reinterpretation of Dalí’s Tear Dress, a plunging white satin gown, shredded with trompe-l’œil cut-outs, reveals stark contrasts. The neckline elongates the figure, while the bias-cut drape recalls fabric caught mid-rip. The look is completed with Measuring Tape heels in gilded leather.
A halter-neck gown in khaki viscose knit, textured with a tree-bark effect. Cut with irregular openings framed in golden metal, and finished with a golden jewel chain trailing the back, the dress refashions a classic into a showpiece. The stylistic choices amplify its presence through the use of twisted brass hoop earrings and a brown leather Hand-in-Hand clutch gripped by golden fingers.
An asymmetrical black jersey dress, its volume gathered by piercing-like jewels, creates a deliberate disarray. Draped rather than tailored, the black jacket embroidered with monkey fur tops the ensemble.
A black chiffon asymmetrical dress, traced with ruffles and delicate straps. Its transparency is framed by a glowing necklace of stacked salt stones that illuminate the neckline. This moment, on the runway, conveyed Roseberry’s conviction that ready-to-wear can carry couture’s electricity.
A brown tulle gown embroidered with white goat-hair circles, layered with tufts of fur at shoulders, waist, and hem. Hoop earrings wrapped in goat fur add to the uncanny spectacle.
This black satin maxi dress embraces the bias cut with precision, its fluid drape enhanced by cut-outs and sheer tulle at the sides. Gold straps and buttons trail down the back. The star accessory is a black rattan-effect leather bucket bag adorned with a “melted” gilded face, recalling Dalí’s distorted clocks.
All images courtesy of Schiaparelli
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