Schiaparelli’s July 2025 Couture collection dazzled with otherworldly opulence, fusing surrealism, celestial fantasy, and unapologetic glamour.
When Daniel Roseberry took the creative reins of Schiaparelli, he promised to uphold Elsa’s surrealist élan. In Paris’s July 2025 Haute Couture show, he did more than maintain that promise — he shot it into orbit.
Within the gold-framed walls of the Place Vendôme atelier, the show started with a divine silence — then fantasy detonated. What ensued was a crescendo of couture that combined mythic power and modern excess, attired in fabrics that breathed old-world glamour and and intergalactic drama. It was a moment conceived not just for fashion aficionados, but for true luxury tastemakers-individuals who purchase experiences and moments along with art or jewels.
The line, “Astrotheia” (which translates as ‘Divine Stars’ in Greek), was inspired by constellations, tarot mysticism, and baroque decadence of Renaissance courts. Imagine a gold-plated breastplate in the form of a human ribcage on top of an organza dress over a sheer sheath covered in over 150,000 crystal stars. Or, a satin sculptural cape in the form of angel wings — midnight black on one side, comet-blaze orange on the other — billowing down the runway like an opera drama.
This was couture as theater, as performance, as provocation. Dresses were trimmed in third-eye headpieces of gold, claw-gloves encrusted with sapphires, and intricate face masks reaped from lunar eclipses. One couldn’t help but be hypnotised by the visual poetry, the unhinged storytelling, and the maniacal craftsmanship of each garment.
Where other maisons were struggling with restraint this season, Schiaparelli maximalism had a purpose. There was a story in every look. A bead-encrusted fossil-shaped corset recalled a goddess reborn from ashes. A 24k gold-ink hand-painted star map was on a flowing transparent organza dress. These were not garments; these were relics of an imagined tomorrow.
And yet, beneath all the drama, the collection held its couture weight. Each hem was hand-rolled, each stitch justified. The ateliers of Schiaparelli, renowned for pushing boundaries of artisanship, produced wearable works of art that occupy the top rung of hedonistic experiences and fashion fantasy.
The front row, of course, was a star system unto itself — from fashion’s newest billionaire investors to Oscar-winning muses. Schiaparelli isn’t merely couture; it’s a language of privilege, shorthand for “I dream in gold, and I live in the extraordinary.”
In a season of contrasts — sound and silence, myth and minimalism — Schiaparelli spoke louder. And in doing so, informed the world that in the land of true luxury, surrealism is the new reality.
