By Jesse Scott
Inspired by a trip to the Sistine Chapel, Daniel Roseberry presented his most ambitious and personal Haute Couture collection yet for Spring 2026. Each season, Roseberry contemplates answers to the question, “what is couture?” This season, the answer was pure emotion. The result was a euphoric traipse through a birds-of-paradise-filled forest that is the crowning moment in his seven-year tenure at Schiaparelli thus far.
“I stopped thinking for the first time in years of how something should look, but instead about how I feel when creating it,” Roseberry revealed. “That was it. The entire emotional heartbeat of the season became not what does it look like, but how do we feel when we make it? What a relief that was. What a revelation.”
We’ve marveled at Roseberry throughout his career for silhouettes previously thought impossible, revolutionary techniques that only he could dream up, and grand narratives told through small details. But as it turns out, we have never seen him fully unleashed until now. In describing the Sistine Chapel ceiling, the designer recalled Michelangelo’s “wild, visually rambunctious, vulnerable, and romantic imagining of God, religion, faith, and the human condition.” Those same adjectives could be used to describe this thirty-look opus which brought us into the skies and took us beneath the oceans for a dramatic, fantastical, and deeply moving journey in new sartorial realms.
Birds of Paradise
This collection was, in the best way, for the birds. Rare feathers, a symbol of luxury and passion for centuries, were revived in distinctly 21st century looks that would suit the 18th century aristocracy. My personal favorite, Look 26, was a double-decker flared gown with a radiant blue bustier. It contained an astounding 65,000 kingfisher silk feathers in twenty-seven unique shades of blue and took over 8,000 hours to make. This was one of many feathered masterpieces that need to be seen in person to be fully appreciated. In Look 28, a structured green dress resembling the shape of a fanned peacock was covered in thousands of absinthe green crystal-dipped feathers. The iconic Elsa jacket appeared with “grafity-defying hips” swathed in a coat of blue peacock feathers in Look 22. It was paired with sumptuous and timeless black velvet trousers which would recur as a highlight of the collection. Meanwhile, Look 25, featured a large black fan in striking red and black feathers, the deadliest femme fatale ensemble.
Schiaparelli Haute Couture Spring 2026: Looks, 28, 22, 25 (images courtesy of Schiaparelli)
Beaks and Scales and Spikes, Oh My
Leave the cone-bras to Jean-Paul Gaultier... Daniel Roseberry has upped the ante with horned and beaked breasts. Horns appeared on an Elsa jacket covered entirely in mother-of-pearl in Look 17. Meanwhile, the show-closing look featured four hand-sculpted 3D bird beaks on an Elsa jacket which extended into an extravagant wing, resplendent with thousands of hand-painted sfumato feathers in Look 30. Such wings were an anchor of the collection; remarkable for their towering structure yet lightweight in composition, they also appeared on the backs of dresses as in a tail-feather in Looks 9 and 10.
Schiaparelli Haute Couture Spring 2026: Looks 17, 30, 9 (images courtesy of Schiaparelli)
Roseberry not only took to the skies for this collection but also explored aquatic and reptilian themes. Several ensembles functioned as wearable, albeit delicate to the touch, armor. “Sharp strokes and rapid squiggles became scorpion tails,” Roseberry told us. “I drew stingers and snake teeth, chimera archetypes of couture with venom woven inside their very silhouettes.” The best example was Look 14, the “Isobella Blowfish." Adorned with organza spikes, it offered an innovative twist on Roseberry's beloved tulle sfumato dresses. A few looks later, the designer took us beneath the ocean with a richly embroidered bustier gown of midnight chocolate tulle covered in some 690 natural shells, each containing a delicate pearl. The tour de force piece took over 4,000 hours to embroider, with intricate floral patterns creating a perfect balance with the alluring call of the ocean, Look 19.
Schiaparelli Haute Couture Spring 2026: Looks 14, 19 (Images courtesy of Schiaparelli)
Ensembles that at first glance appeared to be among the collection’s more simple were, in fact, some of its most complex. For example, a transparent mesh top was paired with an aptly named “explosive volume” skirt with a surprising structure and texture in Look 2. The look introduced the entire couture season’s most innovative technique: the use of dozens of needles to fasten 3D flower motifs onto tulle. Meanwhile, an asymmetrical ivory tulle gown was a classic Roseberry masterpiece, somewhat trompe d’oeil and forcing us to reconsider what we know about fabric construction. Paired with a crested bustier ensconced with 25,000 silk thread feathers and requiring over 4,000 hours to complete, it was what I described to my colleague as “the ultimate Cinderella dress."
Schiaparelli Haute Couture Spring 2026: Looks 2, 11 (Images courtesy of Schiaparelli)
Shoes and Jewelry Complete Stellar Collection
The shoes and jewelry from this collection will be remembered for many seasons to come. Roseberry debuted pumps with tromp l’oeil bird’s heads and necklaces, recalling birds’ eggs. Meanwhile, spectacular rhinestone headpieces added a touch of glamorous ancient gravitas to some of the more fantastical looks.
As usual, the Schiaparelli show opened the Couture Week calendar to a star-studded guest list. Laura Sanchez, Jeff Bezos, Teyana Taylor, Demi Moore, Chiara Ferragni, and Carla Bruni were among those sitting in the front row as Roseberry once again raised the bar for what haute couture can be. In my near-decade of covering fashion, this was as close to a perfect collection as I have seen; viewing each ensemble up close, there were truly no misses. “Nothing is more powerful—or timeless—or for me, more now, than getting to unchain my imagination…and, I hope, yours,” Roseberry said. I couldn’t agree more. And no one is more powerful in fashion right now than Daniel Roseberry. Agony, ecstasy, fantasy… venomous scorpions or birds-of-paradise. Wherever he takes us, the world will follow, entranced.