Schiaparelli Has War on Its Conscience for Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2025

Schiaparelli kicked off Haute Couture Week in Paris with an unforgettable Spring/Summer 2025 collection that proves, once again, why Creative Director Daniel Roseberry is such a couture force to be reckoned with. For the latest reveal that's named after Icarus—a Greek mythology character who flew too close to the sun and died—Roseberry soars without falling, delivering a collection that embodies a deep, instinctive knowledge about the female form and fashion history, including during wartime.

Making this collection, Roseberry revealed in his show notes, started in a Parisian antique shop, where he looked at an assortment of ribbons from the 1920s and '30s. "Before the war, many of these ribbons were created in Lyon, and shipped around the world. But when Germany invaded France, many of these spools of ribbon were hidden away, lost for a period to history," he added. In the collection, Roseberry seeks to unveil what modernity in fashion really means, using prewar, Lyon-made ribbons (in hues of butter, saffron, faded peacock green, and burnt saffron) as a vehicle. This inspired the Spring/Summer 2025 season's intricate details.

On the runway, held at Paris' Petit Palais, silhouettes nodded to iconic couturiers like Madame Grès, Charles Frederick Worth, and Paul Poiret, to name a few. Nude-colored and sheer gowns hung off the body with an asymmetrical weight. Trompe l’oeil pearls covered bustier dresses while S-shaped jackets made a case for Schiaparelli's fine tailoring. From snaky curves embroidered with luxurious Japanese bugle beads to the dramatic, sharp hip blades molded from French corset toile, each design transformed the models into ethereal beings, exuding a divine, otherworldly allure. 

"I’m so tired of everyone constantly equating modernity with simplicity: Can’t the new also be worked, be baroque, be extravagant? Has our fixation on what looks or feels modern become a limitation? Has it cost us our imagination?" Roseberry asked in his show notes, challenging prevailing notion about what modernity in fashion means today.

Beyond the war-touched ribbons, Roseberry was inspired by what he calls the "liquid deco" silhouettes of the 1920s and 1930s. He captured couture’s golden past through materials like delicate silks and Japanese bugle bead embroidery. It was evident in the shape of clothing too, like bias cut dresses and prewar jackets by Elsa Schiaparelli. On the runway, models Kendall Jenner, Alex Consani, and Mona Tougaard shut it down, keeping the celebrity-filled audience in awe, including guests like Gabrielle Union and Kelly Rutherford.

"Haute Couture is by definition a quest for perfection. Every  season can feel like a quixotic struggle, a climb, to reach an ever-higher level of execution and  vision. But we do it—I do it—for you, our viewers, our clients, our passionate followers," continued in his show notes, before concluding his thoughts with an Icarus-themed finale. "Haute Couture aspires to reach great heights; it promises escape from our complicated reality. It also reminds us that perfection comes at a price. How high can we couturiers go? As high as the sun—and the Gods—allow us."

Click through the gallery below to see every look from Schiaparelli Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2025 collection below.