A pleasant surprise awaited the fashion audience that attended to the show of the fashion house Schiaparelli, “orphaned” after the departure of Marco Zanini from the post of creative director in July.
An in-house team of stylists presented a collection in no way inferior to creations of Zanini, who, by the way, was heading the eccentric haute couture brand for just two seasons.
Designers turned to the origins and drew inspiration from the sensational collection “Stop, Look & Listen” of the distant 1935, when Elsa Schiaparelli invited guests to the new address of the house at 21 place Vendôme.
Same as almost a century ago, the show went beyond a defile, turning by the talent of an invited guest Jean-Paul Goude into a real audio-visual performance, the “Sound & Vision” experience.
The collection itself perhaps lacks the surrealism of the founder, in an attempt to retain the spirit of which so quickly exhausted Zanini. However, the elements of stylistic lexicon, the most cherished by “Schiap” were here. That concerns mostly the famous prints, which became the hallmark of the House. Hearts pierced with pins, padlocks and the trompe l’oeil  “little hands”, which on one of the most successful looks – a straight malachite color silk dress with long sleeves – “unfasten” a crystal necklace on the back.
The in-house stylists didn’t forget also the famous invention of Elsa an “harlequin” dress in shocking pink and vermilion silk made of a patchwork of diamond-shaped motifs of varying size.
Declared as an ode to self-confidence, the new collection of Schiaparelli, not impairing its “haute couturenes”, could be an excellent springboard for the brand to the prêt-a-porter market. And that proves the rule: whatever happens, is happens for good.

Photo credits: SCHIAPARELLI / Kim Weston Arnold / Indigitalimages.com