Paris Haute Couture Week SS21: Schiaparelli delivers muscular mini dresses with in-built abs

There was nothing princess-like about Daniel Roseberry’s third collection for the Maison
Chloe Street25 January 2021

Maison Schiaparelli kicked off an all-digital Paris Haute Couture week this morning with a spring/ summer 2021 collection, unveiled via fashion film, which rewrote the codes of couture.  

In his third collection for the house, Daniel Roseberry aimed to challenge the notion that couture need be confined to fairy tale dresses, acres of taffeta and delicate embroidery, instead delivering an alternative, less princess-like fantasy celebrating the human form.   

Schiaparelli SS21
Schiaparelli

A wool cape came embellished with thousands of gold beads designed, to look like hair, while elsewhere mini dresses were sculpted to give the illusion of muscular torsos complete with ripped abs. 

These body-builder corsets were first teased by Kim Kardashian, who wore a green Hulk-like iteration for her Christmas 2020 look. “The six pack bodice is in molded leather rubbed to be Jaguar green,” said Roseberry on Instagram at the time. "The skirt is absinthe silk velvet, and the oversized pendant earrings are a sneak peak at the next couture collection."

The jewellery was similarly anatomical, with long golden fingers and giant porcelain white molars making fabulously eccentric dangly earrings.  

Paris Couture: Maison Schiaparelli SS21

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Roseberry also delivered silhouettes not typically shown in a couture context, like trousers and a bomber jacket, and unexpected techniques and fabrics, like elasticated waists and neoprene.    

Tributes were made to Elsa Schiaparelli, who founded her eponymous label in 1927, via her signature padlock, which was reimagined as a hard-shelled minaudière, and her measuring tape which was blown out into an exaggerated, embellished black silk faille train.   

Schiaparelli

The event, which concludes on Thursday, will also see digital presentations from Chanel, Valentino and Fendi, with Dior and Giambattista Valli later this afternoon. 

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