Daniel Roseberry understands something fundamental about haute couture today. The club has dwindled to an extremely small group, and with Giambattista Valli’s show canceled due to financial difficulties and Giorgio Armani passing away last September, the 40-year-old creative director has unexpectedly become the old master of the craft. This realization seems to have liberated him. For Schiaparelli Haute Couture Spring 2026, he created a collection that weaponizes nature’s most aggressive forms, transforming spikes, tails, and beaks into expressions of controlled fury.
| 📌 Key Facts |
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| 🏛️ Couture House: Schiaparelli 🐍 Creative Director: Daniel Roseberry 📍 Show Location: Centre Pompidou, Paris 🗓️ Season: Spring 2026 Haute Couture 🪶 Signature Motifs: Scorpions, birds of prey, spikes, feathers ⏱️ Craftsmanship: Up to 8,000 hours for a single gown 🎨 Key Inspirations: Michelangelo, Alien, Elsa Schiaparelli, David Whyte 🌍 Context: A shrinking haute couture landscape 👗 Standout Figure: Teyana Taylor |
The timing matters. With Christian Dior and Chanel welcoming new members to the haute couture fold this week, Roseberry chose this moment to demonstrate the difference between technical proficiency and genuine vision. He traveled to Rome for inspiration and was struck by the contrast between the Sistine Chapel’s static walls and Michelangelo’s explosive ceiling frescoes. This tension between rigor and release became his framework.
Roseberry channeled fauna rather than the expected flora. While other couturiers reach for flowers, Roseberry grabbed scorpions, blowfish, and birds of prey. A sheer black lace jacket swooped into an enormous, curved scorpion tail bristling with silver needles. A translucent, crystal-embroidered skirt suit erupted with organza spikes, inspired by a blowfish’s defensive mechanism. He named one spiked suit “Isabella Blowfish,” referencing the late fashion collector Isabella Blow and suggesting that fashion can be a form of armor.
The collection featured what Roseberry called “Infanta Terribles“: bustier tops and fitted jackets with menacing scorpion tails curving up from the small of the back. Feathered wings sprouted from strapless black dresses. Claws or beaks grew from the breasts and shoulder blades of the feathered jackets. Models Awar Odhiang and Lulu Tenney closed the show in multicolored, feathered jackets with gigantic bird beaks protruding from the chest and back. Were they birds of paradise or birds of prey? The ambiguity was the point.
The craftsmanship required to create these pieces demands attention. A tiered ball gown adorned with 65,000 black and kingfisher-blue raw silk feathers required over 8,000 hours to complete. A bustier dress adorned with hundreds of small shells and pearls took 4,000 hours to complete. These numbers reveal why haute couture remains such rarefied territory. You cannot fake this level of technical execution.
Roseberry cited inspirations ranging from Michelangelo and the sci-fi classic Alien to philosopher David Whyte’s observation that anger can be the deepest form of compassion. The designer described a turbocharged aggression in his silhouettes yet insisted that the atelier experienced joy while working on pieces like the scorpion tail. This paradox reflects our current moment, when creativity becomes both a weapon and a refuge as the world descends into chaos.
Elsa Schiaparelli pioneered this approach decades ago. Wallis Simpson wore her scandalously sheer lobster dress. The Costume Institute owns a fur jacket with a cat-head hood. Roseberry has built on that legacy, attracting collectors who seek beauty alongside strangeness. His clients are daredevils for whom dressing is performance art.
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Teyana Taylor embodies this perfectly. Fresh from her Golden Globe win for Best Supporting Actress in One Battle After Another—wearing Schiaparelli, of course—she attended the show in a sheer black lace dress under a long black coat. Her pearl crown, tiara, and necklace, inspired by the crown jewels stolen from the Louvre last year, grabbed attention. Now an Oscar nominee, Taylor has “winner” written all over her. If she chooses Schiaparelli for the Academy Awards, a bustier gown whose silhouette mimics a bird in flight would make a statement.
Not every piece reached the same heights, though. Molded bustier dresses dripping in crystal fringe felt like natural red carpet candidates. However, the surreal tulle ball gowns — chopped up or worn backwards — veered uncomfortably close to old Viktor & Rolf territory. Once you’ve established yourself as a leader in your field, borrowing visual language from others seems unnecessary.
Roseberry’s strength lies in advancing Schiaparelli’s historical DNA without apology. He attracts serious collectors precisely because he refuses to soften his vision. Beauty becomes more irresistible with a touch of weirdness. His willingness to embrace menace alongside elegance positions him uniquely within the narrowing field of haute couture. At 40, it might feel absurd to find himself the old master. But after watching this collection walk down the runway, the title felt earned.
