The ideas behind the spring 2026 Schiaparelli collection started when Creative Director Daniel Roseberry read how movie attendance had declined in recent years but museum visits had shockingly skyrocketed. "It made perfect sense to me," he said in the show notes. "Our phones are a slophouse of cheap thrills, with lifespans no longer than a few hours." Then he wondered why we have just accepted this as fact. He asked, "Is that really what we want?" While entertainment is omnipresent in 2025, Roseberry felt that true inspiration is increasingly rare. And so he worked to capture genuine and precious inspiration and present it for a collection titled Dancer in the Dark.
Night at the Museum
The latest runway took place at the Centre Pompidou, in the same gallery that had housed the Brancusi retrospective just 18 months before. It wasn't that Roseberry was trying to draw a connection between fashion and art but instead that he wanted going to a Schiaparelli show to feel like going to a museum. "It should awaken the sensation of dancing alone at home after work. It should feel like dancing in the dark—just as liberating; just as private; just as joyful."
Elsa Schiaparelli's "Hard Chic"
Roseberry has made his own mark at Schiaparelli, but Elsa Schiaparelli, who founded the house in 1927, is always a source of inspiration. Roseberry said, "Schiaparelli RTW has always existed at the crossroads of commercial potential and creative catharsis. Elsa wasn’t an architect of new silhouettes—that was never the point. Nor was she a brand marketing genius. She was, however, a genius in how she engaged with culture."
The connection to Elsa comes across most evidently in the Schiaparelli jacket, which is clean and sharp without any bells and whistles. It's a celebration of discipline and control. Roseberry calls this concept "hard chic," which is also evident in the column dresses. The trompe l'oeil knitwear was also executed in three-tone jacquards as a tribute to Elsa's knits. There was even an homage in the bias-cut dresses, which featured rips. They were a callback to the 1938 Tears Dress, a Surrealist collaboration between Schiaparelli and Salvador Dalí.
A New Secret Padlock Handbag
Roseberry noted that he wanted to make sure that the accessories also delighted as much as the ready-to-wear, which certainly was the case. The Secret, Schiaparelli's padlock bag, was made in new dimensions to mimic Dalí's melting clocks. "Every shoe and handbag begins with drawings, which I think you can see and feel in the final products," Roseberry said. There's a rawness to the bag that's part of its eccentric appeal; it doesn't take itself too seriously.
The Daily Life Fantasy
For a long time, Roseberry was a little unsure how he felt about the comment many had made that his ready-to-wear collection felt like couture. He initially saw it as criticism but has since changed his mind. "Six years into this chapter at Schiaparelli, what felt like a liability now feels like a strength. Who doesn’t want to participate in a fantasy made easy for daily life? Why can’t fashion—even everyday fashion—be art?" His spring 2026 collection proved exactly that. There's no reason not to wear clothing that wouldn't feel out of place in a museum—especially when that clothing is Schiaparelli.
