Schiaparelli's Six Pack Is the Only Fitness Goal I Care About
Fashion

Schiaparelli's Six Pack Is the Only Fitness Goal I Care About

Remember when Kim Kardashian (still West, for now) closed 2020 with that astonishing six-pack breastplate by Schiaparelli? Turns out that her molded leather bodice — which recalled similar archive looks by Issey Miyake and Mugler — was actually a preview for the brand's Spring 2021 haute couture collection, which was unveiled in full this morning.

Kim's hunter green version now comes in myriad hues, silhouettes and materials — and even as a sculptural handbag. Schiaparelli creative director Daniel Roseberry, who just designed Lady Gaga's inauguration dress, also incorporated more of the brand's signature surreal, humorous elements including a breastfeeding baby, shoes with individual gold toes, glasses that you can't actually see out of and a giant black couture hoodie perfect for avoiding human interaction.

The ironic styles are part of Roseberry's continued quest to make an "alternative couture house," one that challenges what the traditional idea of couture (princess dresses, '50s skirts, polite garments etc.) should be while nodding to founder Elsa Schiaparelli's penchant for peacocking and rule-breaking.

The Elsa references don't stop there. There's also a basketweave wool cape, embellished with thousands of gold bugle beads, that invokes her 1938 hooded veil that looks like hair; her signature padlock is reimagined as a decadent minaudière; and her famous measuring tape is blown out into an exaggerated, embellished train.

"I've always admired how Elsa embroidered pieces," said Roseberry in a statement. "In an era in which embroidery had a whispery, almost recessive quality, hers were barbaric and unapologetic. I tried to bring that same spirit to this collection; here, the embroidery has an almost raw feeling to it: It's treated like decoration, almost like jewelry—the hand of the artisan who made it is unignorable. It's a fitting complement to the silhouettes themselves, which have the same kind of boldness."

See more looks from Schiaparelli Haute Couture Spring 2021 in the gallery, below.

Photos courtesy of Schiaparelli