Schiaparelli Spring 2026 Couture: A Sting in the Tale
- Matheus Hooks/ Editor-In-Chief
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
At Schiaparelli’s Spring 2026 couture show, Daniel Roseberry didn’t ask for permission. He struck — with surgical precision, sharpened imagination, and a beauty that unsettles as much as it seduces. The starting point was both literal and symbolic: a monumental scorpion tail, curving through space like a warning and an invitation. A show with a sting.
Drawing from nature’s apex predators, Roseberry delivered his most aggressive collection to date, using trompe-l’œil as a storytelling weapon. Alligator tails, horns, colossal wings, and oversized beaks erupted from backs, shoulders, and torsos, turning jackets and dresses into hybrid creatures suspended between human form and animal instinct. Subtlety was nowhere to be found — and that was entirely the point.
The result was both menacing and mesmerizing, much like the most effective hunters. A sheer black lace jacket swept into a dramatic curved scorpion tail, bristling with silver needles, while a crystal-embroidered skirt suit exploded into organza spikes inspired by the defensive armor of a blowfish. Fashion here functioned as both shield and strike.
The show’s finale pushed the narrative into full surrealism. Awar Odhiang and Lulu Tenney closed the runway in multicolored feathered jackets, each pierced by two gigantic beaks protruding from the chest and back. Were they birds of paradise or birds of prey? The ambiguity was no accident — it was the core idea.
“The tension between the two, and the not knowing, was the point,” Roseberry said backstage. “There is an aggressive, turbocharged aspect to the silhouette.” That aggression, however, is deeply considered. The designer cited inspirations ranging from Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel to the sci-fi classic Alien, and the poetry of English philosopher David Whyte. One quote, in particular, hovered over the collection like a manifesto: “Anger is the deepest form of compassion.”
As the world edges toward chaos, Roseberry chose not to soften his emotions but to transform them. Here, anger is not portrayed as blind violence, but as raw creative energy. “Normally we associate anger with aggression, but this was something different,” he explained. “People from the atelier told me they’ve never had more joy working on something as aggressive as the scorpion tail.”
Ironically, that visual ferocity demands almost saint-like patience. A tiered ballgown shimmering with 65,000 black and kingfisher-blue raw silk feathers required more than 8,000 hours of craftsmanship. A bustier dress adorned with hundreds of tiny shells, each suspending a pearl, took around 4,000 hours to complete. The impact is instant; the labor is monumental.
Not every look dripped with venom. Sculpted bustier gowns cascading with crystal fringe felt destined for the Oscars red carpet. Meanwhile, the surreal tulle ballgowns — chopped apart or worn back-to-front — edged a little too close to familiar Viktor & Rolf territory, offering one of the collection’s few moments of déjà vu.
Still, A Sting in the Tale stands as one of the most powerful chapters in Roseberry’s Schiaparelli era. A collection that refuses comfort in favor of consciousness. That transforms anger into form, fear into beauty, and instinct into haute couture. In today’s fashion jungle, Schiaparelli doesn’t retreat — it observes, it attacks, and it leaves a mark.
