Haute couture, the one with capital letter, is meant to impresse. It does not matter if it is crazy, colorful, exaggerate, not wearable. In such a sense, the capital-letter haute couture should be so avant guard to match the taste of a very little amount of people, totally out of shared aesthetic. Affordable by few. When it is understood and appreciated by all, it is no more Fashion. This is part of its - perverse - fascination.
Haute Couture collection by Schiaparelli for autumn/winter 2019 2020 answer fully to this description. Dresses shown carried with them the Maison’s heritage and payed homage to the avant guard genius of Schiaparelli herself. Of her story the collection especially underlined the meeting between fashion and art (the surrealistic one for the designer) which marked indelibly her work.
Items are sculptures that take forms thanks to rigid and ruffled fabrics, and to slippery silk in precious texture, wrapping sensually the body. It did not miss a touch of leather, lace and feathers. Female body is underlined in its peculiar shapes: it is considered a sort of esoteric sanctuary, a temple for the pure feminine essence.
The colourful carnival changed and became extremely elegant in the central part, where black dominated on sparkling satin and neat cut. This a precious collections, made out of jewels and full of invention. It is a sort of gorgeous diamond.
Words by Giulia Greco