Daniel Roseberry is currently operating at a point of full command within haute couture. Elsa Schiaparelli’s codes are respected and elevated through his fascination with art and the animal world, positioning the house as one of the most admired, avant-garde, and experimental maisons today—and a perennial favorite on red carpets. In The Agony and The Ecstasy, Roseberry prioritizes the emotional act of creation over observation, approaching the collection as a masterwork.

Following a creative journey through Rome, Roseberry found inspiration in the ancient walls of the Sistine Chapel, conceived as an artistic portal. In this collection, reptiles and insects emerge as guardian beings of those walls. How would these creatures appear if they were extensions of stone and fresco? As true works of art—encrusted with crystals and defined by immovable silhouettes that seem to defy gravity.

These “enfants terribles,” as Roseberry calls them, appear with striking precision throughout the collection. The Scorpio Sisters reimagines the classic tailored jacket by altering its silhouette: a “stinger” emerges from the back, evoking the anatomy of a scorpion. Pattern manipulation elevates each Schiaparelli collection into the couture realm, demanding both technical mastery and a refined sensitivity toward fashion as art. Every piece is hand-stitched, intrinsically adorned with resin spikes crowned by an antique pearl, marking one of the collection’s most admired designs.

But that was not all. Capes played a fundamental role in this narrative. Crafted largely from tulle, they do more than add volume—they make the garments float. Optical illusion, dreamlike fantasy, and movement take precedence, enhanced by decorative elements and fringes. The fauna-inspired components stand out for their rigidity, while the more “human” elements express themselves through fluidity.

The collection opens Haute Couture Week on a powerful note. Within the rigidity of its silhouettes, feathered coats and nipple embellishments taper into stingers, all oriented in the same direction, as if forming winged creatures. A chromatic coherence runs throughout the presentation, yet one design shone above the rest: Isabella Blowfish. Inspired by the style of the legendary collector and creative force, the look resurrects her from an eternal slumber in a fitted dress shaped like a pufferfish, spikes emerging from the shoulders and black crystal spots applied in ombré, creating a silhouette that is both powerful and uncompromising.

What can be said about Schiaparelli? Each season, the house chooses to experiment further, to have fun, and—above all—to treat haute couture as art. Every presentation functions as an exhibition that reignites the desire to create, and in The Agony and The Ecstasy, it made us dream.