By Associated Press Fashion Writer Thomas Adamson
Paris (AP) The odd sight of the Cardi Band performing a live performance kicked off Paris couture week on Monday, rather than glitter or red carpet theatrics.
Standing beneath the gilded columns of the Petit Palais, the American rapper held the black bird on her arm while wearing a handmade Schiaparelli gown with graphic fringe. Setting the tone for a monochromatic presentation that itself veered right into the strange, her bird plus one squawked, hissed, and almost lunged.
Maybe it was an appropriate picture for Schiaparelli.The house’s founder, Elsa Schiaparelli, established her reputation in the 1930s by incorporating unexpected elements into high fashion, such as shoe hats, lobster skirts, and yes, animals.
This legacy was evident in Daniel Roseberry’s Fall 2025 collection, which was a black-and-white extravaganza that was designed to give the impression that the city had been stripped of its color, leaving only stark contrast and unadulterated emotion.
The glamorous guest list, which included Hunter Schafer and Dua Lipa, wasn’t the only reason for the cinematic atmosphere inside. Intensity and ease characterized gowns and jackets, with hips and waists sculpted using surprising methods. One flowing dress billowed, evoking the spectral form of a medusa from the deep sea. Across the runway, hints of disco shimmer flickered like film.
However, this season represented a change from the house’s previous criticism for its heavy reliance on body modification and tight corsetry. Roseberry gave off his trademark corset silhouette, maybe in response to the criticism. It was replaced with a more flexible and unrestricted investigation of the body that echoed Schiaparelli’s own restless nature.
According to Roseberry, the collection was influenced by Elsa Schiaparelli’s 1940 escape from Nazi-occupied Paris to New York, when art and life were on the brink of extinction and the sunset of elegance.
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With archival codes reinvented with a restless push toward the future, this tension was evident in every glance. With Swiss dots in silk thread and foulards embroidered from measuring tapes, the silhouettes straddled the line between sculpture and fluidity, paying homage to Elsa’s time period and employing century-old methods.
But it was more than just a show. At its most basic, this was couture—an unrestricted source of ideas for the whole fashion business.
Elsa was interested in what fashion could be, Roseberry continued, while Chanel was focused in how clothing could be useful to women.
Even as the world hurries toward artificial intelligence and disposable fast clothes, couture is essential because of this what-if spirit, the way memory, myth, and sheer technique are transformed into something never seen before.
The effect was only enhanced by the location. An exhibit about Charles Worth, the British entrepreneur who brought handicraft and craftsmanship to Paris in the 19th century and created haute couture, is currently on display at the Petit Palais.
In these halls, Schiaparelli’s past and fashion’s future converged in an enticing harmony that reminded everyone why couture is important—not as a museum piece, but as a live laboratory for risk, reinvention, and radical beauty.
Ten years after its relaunch, Schiaparelli has achieved financial success and established itself as a mainstay on red carpets around the globe, which is uncommon in the current luxury market. The brand’s strength, however, mostly resides in its capacity for surprise. As Cardi B’s crow threatened to soar on opening day, Schiaparelli demonstrated that the unexpected remains the most powerful element in Parisian fashion.
