For Schiaparelli AW25, Daniel Roseberry took us deep into the heart of Texas, but through a couture-like lens. Titled Lone Star, the collection was poised as a love letter to powerful women – those who dress for themselves, not the male gaze. And let’s be honest, if you’re wearing a duster coat with sculptural shoulders or a cowboy boot reimagined in polished gold, you’re definitely not looking for anyone’s approval. “Elsa, too, had little time for the male gaze: Yes, she collaborated with many male artists. But though her clothes may have been made with them, they weren’t meant to be looked at by them,” Roseberry wrote in his show notes.

He played with contradictions – hard meets soft, masculine meets feminine, surrealism meets practicality. A classic ranch belt buckle? Now dripping in gilded embellishments and lobster motifs. What looked like beaten metal? Actually supple leather. Tooled cowboy boots, oversized handbags, and body-hugging flocked bodysuits blurred the line between utility and fantasy. A peerless level of craftsmanship with a side of trompe l’oeil mischief made certain it was Schiaparelli through and through. “I was inspired to create a wardrobe that would speak to the contradictions inherent in women’s lives: How could I give them something that both riffs on masculine archetypes…while at the same time allowing them to embrace the feminine divine?”

Textures reigned supreme with velvet stamped with blown-up feather motifs, cut-thread jacquards light as air and golden studs glistening across supple bags. So did the accessories, which featured massive earrings shaped like keyholes or chandeliers, surrealist necklaces and top-handle bags so exaggerated they could double as carry-ons.

It was a wild, opulent, utterly chic ride as rare and radiant as a desert sunset. Lone Star was a Western dipped in Parisian perfection.

schiaparelli.com