Schiaparelli unveiled its Spring Summer 2026 haute couture collection, The Agony and the Ecstasy, as an exploration of feeling over form, drawing emotional and visual inspiration from the transformative power of art. Conceived after a retreat outside Rome, the collection reflects a moment of artistic awakening.

Rather than focusing on how couture should look, the season is driven by how it feels to create. That shift in perspective becomes the collection’s emotional core. Agony and ecstasy exist side by side, expressed through silhouettes that fuse beauty with menace and romance with tension. Rapid, expressive sketches evolve into sculptural forms reminiscent of scorpion tails, snake teeth, and fantastical hybrid creatures. These so-called “infantas terribles” emerge as the heroes of the collection, defying gravity through bold color, exaggerated volume, and a sense of flight.

True to couture tradition, structure and discipline anchor the collection, while the ateliers’ technical mastery pushes those rules to their limits. Lace is hand-cut and treated as bas-relief to create three-dimensional depth. Feathers, both real and trompe l’oeil, are painted, airbrushed, dipped in resin, and encrusted with crystals. Neon tulle layered beneath lace produces a soft, sfumato glow. Each look carries a distinct identity, from spiked organza suits to fantastical jackets inspired by birds of paradise in pinks, blues, and saffron.

The show opened with a powerful first look that established the collection’s themes of structure and flight: a white leather satin jacket with gravity-defying hips and a dramatic black gradient fan of feathers at the back, paired with black velvet trousers fading from nude to deep black in a soft sfumato effect. Nude and black satin and lace mules, finished with a curved heel and gold keyhole detail, underscored Schiaparelli’s signature surreal codes. 

The collection closed with look 30, a sharp-shouldered Elsa jacket whose collar transformed into a lightweight embroidered wing, adorned with thousands of hand-painted feathers and warm silver embellishments. Sculptural bird beaks, black velvet trousers, and a rhinestone-encrusted silver headpiece brought the narrative to a theatrical close, finished with black satin sandals featuring the iconic gold keyhole.

Accessories extend the narrative through sculptural bird heads crafted from silk feathers, resin beaks, and pearl cabochon eyes, echoing Elsa Schiaparelli’s enduring fascination with animals of the sea and sky. Keyhole motifs also reappear as symbols of mystery and imagination.

Ultimately, the collection reframes the purpose of couture itself. It is not about daily wear but about fantasy, freedom, and reconnecting with the instinct to dream. Schiaparelli’s Spring Summer 2026 offering stands as an invitation to abandon logic, embrace emotion, and look upward, where imagination takes flight.