Photo: Courtesy of Schiaparelli
In a world where ready-to-wear looks increasingly relaxed to match the current state of pandemic clothing, it is exciting to witness the wild freedom of haute couture. Today was the first day of the spring 2021 haute couture fashion shows, and Schiaparelli, Dior and Iris van Herpen stopped doing everything.
Last week, many of us were refreshed watching Lady Gaga serenade the country in a personalized Schiaparelli dress – just one of the costumes that got us excited about fashion at the White House. Schiaparelli is having a moment, and all eyes are on creative director David Roseberry. His spring 2021 collection may not work for an opening, but it certainly reflects the spirit of Gaga, a pop star who is fascinated by pushing the limits of the human body.
Schiaparelli.
Photo: Courtesy of Schiaparelli
Apparently, Roseberry also has a penchant for anatomy. The collection included a breastfeeding baby’s golden breastplate, pearl earrings, gold toecaps on the toes of her shoes, and a haute couture revival of her six-piece bodice. (The last of which effectively abolished the need to work out – who needs a gym when you can have haute couture?) The clothes are incredibly complicated: a padded body-con dress, for example, is adorned with thousands of bugle beads with the electric pink Schiaparelli signature, imitating torn abs, traps and biceps.
Everything is ready for the production of memes, but Roseberry wanted to make a bigger statement: to challenge the idea of haute couture as a space for “polite clothes” and “dresses as harmlessly beautiful as something from a fairy tale”. For him, the fantasy is inside. “These are clothes that make you aware of the reality of your body, that make you think about how you move around the world,” he explained in the program’s notes. “Elsa Schiaparelli encouraged an infantile and non-neurotic exploration of the human form. Their garments were meant to celebrate the joy of strutting, the joy of showing off. “
Maria Grazia Chiuri de Dior, however, is completely, admittedly entrenched in fairy tales, and she appeals to the Bridgerton– obsessed with her spring 2021 haute couture collection. This season, unfortunately, there are no horny tree nymphs, but there are personifications of the Major Arcana in the tarot decks, like the High Priestess, the Empress, Justice and the Madman . In the presentation video above, by Italian director Matteo Garrone, a very dark and contemplative French girl, all in black, asks: “Who am I?” when requested by an elderly tarot reader. Obviously, this leads to a journey in a castle where she meets the arcana wearing Dior haute couture. (Spoiler alert: it all ends with the girl kissing … with herself.)
Iris van Herpen.
Photo: Gio Staiano
And there was the parade of the Dutch designer Iris van Herpen in the spring of 2021, entitled “Roots of Rebirth”. Known for combining craftsmanship with technologies like 3D printing, she added elements of nature and an experimental pop star, Sevdaliza, to the mix for 2021. In this collection and in life, mushrooms are the answer – the “wood-wide web,” How van Herpen puts it, which is a microcosm of our functioning society. The folds looked like mushroom gills, and the silhouettes and ornaments were inspired by the mycelium, the intricately branched roots of the fungi.
Tomorrow, we will receive collections from Chanel and Valentino. Here you are waiting for more magic, more mushrooms and more big swings.