Paris Couture Week got off to a wild start this morning as Schiaparelli kicked off proceedings with an animal-tastic spring 2023 show.
Making a splash on the front row was Kylie Jenner wearing a ruched black velvet maxi dress with a giant 3D lion’s head attached — corsage-like — that covered most of her torso. She accessorised with a pair of golden toe-capped heels and a gold snakeskin bag.
The roar-some dress was, it transpired, an arbiter of that to come as Shalom Harlow then hit the runway in a fur midi complete with giant life-size snow leopard’s head attached to the front, and Naomi Campbell walk out swathed in a black fur coat with a wolf’s head peering out from the shoulder. Irina Shayk also took her turn in a lioness dress to match Kylie’s – proof that the biggest names these days get access to couture even before its even hit the runway.
The animals were a nod to the leopard, the lioness and the she-wolf in Dante’s Inferno, the theme of the show. The lifelike creations were, said Roseberry, “sculpted and embroidered by hand, celebrating the glory of nature and guarding the woman who wears it.”
Scandi model Mona Tougaard oozed inferno in a fiery bead-encrusted terracotta pencil skirt with a shield-like wooden bodice, while another model wore the exact black sculptural velvet dress Rihanna had rocked to this year’s Golden Globes.
In the short time since he took the helm at heritage couture house Schiaparelli in 2019, Daniel Roseberry has succeeded in reenergising the brand with the avant-garde, outré aesthetic its founder Elsa Schiaparelli was famous for – and in so doing, he’s cemented Schiaparelli at the vanguard of contemporary cool.
Testament to that was the star-studded front row at today’s show, which numbered Ruth Wilson, Diane Kruger and Balmain creative director Olivier Rousteing. Doja Cat made a spectacular entrance dressed head-to-toe in red Schiaparelli with her entire face and body painted red and encrusted with red crystals.
Low-key Monday morning flex all round.
