01DANIEL ROSEBERRY IS A RARE THING IN PARIS: A DESIGNER WHO STILL
DRAWS. HE BEGINS EACH SCHIAPARELLI COUTURE COLLECTION WITH
SPONTANEOUS HAND SKETCHES, THEN HANDS THEM TO THE ATELIER TO
BUILD. NO MOOD BOARD, NO SOFTWARE. A PENCIL, AND A STEADY HAND.
02HIS STORY IS UNLIKELY. BORN IN PLANO, TEXAS, IN 1985, THE SON OF A
PRIEST AND AN ARTIST, HE STUDIED AT FIT, LEFT EARLY, AND SPENT TEN
YEARS AT THOM BROWNE. THEN, IN 2019, A HISTORIC FRENCH COUTURE
HOUSE HANDED THE TEXAN ITS KEYS.
03THE HOUSE WAS SCHIAPARELLI, ELSA SCHIAPARELLI'S SURREALIST MAISON,
DORMANT FOR DECADES. ROSEBERRY WOKE IT UP BY LEANING INTO THE
STRANGE: GOLD METALWORK, MOLDED LEATHER BREASTPLATES, ANATOMICAL
LUNGS AND SPINES, EARS AND EYES CAST IN GILDED METAL.
04IT IS COUTURE AS SCULPTURE. THE SURREALISM IS NOT A PRINT, IT IS
BUILT: HAMMERED, CAST, CARVED AND EMBROIDERED BY HAND IN THE
ATELIER. THE KIND OF CRAFT THAT CANNOT BE FAKED, RUSHED OR PRINTED
CHEAPLY ONTO A FACTORY DRESS. IT EXISTS BY HAND ALONE.
05AND IT MADE SCHIAPARELLI FAMOUS AGAIN. THE RED-CARPET MOMENTS,
THE GILDED NEWBORN, THE LION-HEAD GOWN, WENT VIRAL AND PUT A
SLEEPY ARCHIVE NAME BACK IN EVERY FEED. REAL CRAFT UNDERNEATH, AND
THE SPECTACLE ON TOP STILL LANDED HARD.
06THAT IS THE ACHIEVEMENT. AN AMERICAN OUTSIDER WHO DREW HIS WAY
INTO ONE OF FRANCE'S HARDEST ROOMS, AND KEPT COUTURE'S ANCIENT
SKILLS ALIVE BY MAKING THEM FEEL BRAND NEW. THE PENCIL, IT TURNS
OUT, STILL BEATS THE ALGORITHM.