Transport yourself to the wide open plains. You’re on the way to a glamorous event, when, unexpectedly, extraterrestrial beings descend. Fear not, for their mission is not to harm you but to rescue you from dull fashion, merging every ensemble with their ethereal style. While it might sound cliché for most designers—of course, in Schiaparelli’s haute couture Spring/Summer 2024 collection, coined “Schiaparalien”, it works.

In 1877, Elsa Schiaparelli’s uncle, Giovanni, director of the Brera Observatory, discovered vast channels on Mars. He also coined the term “martian,” and inadvertently began our modern fascination with extraterrestrials. Daniel Roseberry, the creative director of Schiaparelli, takes this fascination and juxtaposes it at every chance. In the collection notes, Roseberry states, “This collection is an homage to that obsession, as well as a study in contradictions—of legacy and the avant-garde, of the beautiful and the provocative, of the earthbound and the heaven-sent.”

Ever since the debut of the collection on Monday, the look that no one can stop talking about is a white tank top and ‘inside-out’ pants complemented by white leather cowboy boots… oh yeah, and a diamond encrusted robot baby. 

Following closely, another model dons a motherboard-and-strasse microchip dress adorned with pre-2007 technological artifacts, perfectly mirroring the baby’s skin—what we like to imagine is a visual representation of the baby all grown up.

There are an array of silhouettes within the collection. From tight to loose-fitting, exaggerated to bare shoulders, sheer to fully covered, drop waists to necklines extending upwards in line with the head, this collection is full of contradictions. The color palette, a blend of blacks, whites, creams, and subtle accents of golds and silvers, consistently threads its way through the entire collection—arguably the key element maintaining its cohesion. 

Abstract references to Texas iconography add another layer of contradiction. Bandanas are remade in hand-painted paillettes, fringe cascades from the garments, cowboy boots ground the models from this otherworldly experience, and iconic horse braid dressage knots transform into silk satin spikes adorning jackets and corset suits. 

“Schiaparalien” does exactly what is name insists: blending Schiaparelli’s motifs like the keyhole, the measuring tape, and anatomical body, Daniel Roseberry’s Texan origin, and the alien roots of Elsa Schiaparelli’s legacy—creating a narrative that merges tales of the known and unknown.