SCHIAPARELLI SS26: CURVES, CUTS, AND SURREAL DELIGHT

A last dance at the Pompidou

It could be five years before we take the escalators to the top of the Pompidou Centre again. The museum is closing for a massive renovation, and Schiaparelli’s show last night was one of the final events before work begins. It was here, a year and a half ago, that Daniel Roseberry discovered a Brancusi exhibit, the spark that ignited his new collection. And if the set was as dark as night, the crowd’s devotion was impossible to miss.

House loyalists shimmered under the spotlights, their surreal gold baubles catching every flicker, as if to say: yes, we are here, and yes, we always have front-row opinions.

Ready-to-wear as a superpower

“Early on,” Roseberry explained, “there was a lot of internal discussion that ready-to-wear looked too much like couture, but now the tables have turned.

What once felt like a liability feels like a superpower when it comes to how the clothes are performing with clients.” He didn’t want to dumb down ready-to-wear at all.

And indeed, the first looks made that clear: tailored skirt suits with padding excised from the shoulders and hips and placed eccentricly on the outside; clingy ribbed knits with collars, cuffs, and peplums that ruffled as if they had their own personality; and delicate little dresses in polka-dotted broderie anglaise, teasing glimpses of skin with every step.

Even pencil skirts broke the rules, dipping below just one hip, paired with tops that mirrored the same curved lines, revealing the midriff with artful precision.

Bias cuts, cutouts, and homage

Curves were everywhere. Roseberry tackled bias-cutting, a completely new world for him, yet his results betrayed no newbie jitters. Many dresses featured deliberate “rips,” an homage to a 1938 archival dress created by Elsa Schiaparelli and Salvador Dalí.

The original had painted silk; Roseberry’s versions elevated the concept with actual cutouts in jersey, crystal mesh, mousseline, and even metal mesh. It was couture-level audacity applied to ready-to-wear.

Surreal touches and playful deception

The most surreal moment? A skirt suit that appeared furry but was in fact made entirely of tiny paintbrushes, thousands of them. “There’s all these things meant to delight and surprise,” Roseberry explained. And if surrealism wasn’t enough, his Schiap gals could opt for a second-skin knit dress, jacquarded with his own drawing of a nude female form.

The show concluded with salt lamp jewelry illuminated by tiny LED batteries, clever, whimsical, and entirely on-brand. Roseberry said it best: “I was really happy with that.”

Conclusion: wit, wonder, and wearable art

The collection was a playful collision of surrealism, technical prowess, and feminine curves. Every cut, every ruffle, every crystal mesh panel felt intentional, witty, and unapologetically Schiaparelli. It is the kind of show that reminds you why fashion can still surprise, delight, and make you reconsider what a skirt suit or a dress can truly be. And as the Pompidou prepares to shut its escalators for years, Roseberry’s collection is a reminder that the spirit of Schiaparelli, surreal and inventive, will not be closed off anytime soon.

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