Schiaparelli Skips Fall Couture in Favor of L.A. Event
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PARIS — Schiaparelli won’t be unveiling a new collection when it opens the online version of Paris Couture Week next Monday, instead presenting a short film featuring creative director Daniel Roseberry sketching outfits while in lockdown in New York.
Delphine Bellini, chief executive officer of Schiaparelli, said the house was also preparing to take its first steps into online sales ahead of the launch of an e-commerce site this fall, and is hoping to unveil a capsule collection of haute couture outfits in Los Angeles in December.
Schiaparelli traditionally has the opening slot of Paris Couture Week and will put its new video content online at 10 a.m. on July 6. It shows Roseberry working on an imaginary collection that will be the springboard for his presentation in Los Angeles.
For the next ready-to-wear shows in September, the brand plans to stage an intimate presentation at its historic salons at 21 Place Vendôme to show its spring 2021 collection. Schiaparelli shuttered its activities during the French lockdown, citing the safety of its employees.
“We were unable to honor the deliveries of haute couture orders scheduled during this period, but none of our clients have canceled their orders. On the contrary, they not only expressed their support for the house, but they were also sensitive to the fact that we offered them special creations,” Bellini told WWD in an exclusive interview.
“We are therefore not worried for our haute couture activities these coming months. I think this period has reinforced our relationship with our customers,” she added.
By focusing its efforts on Los Angeles, Schiaparelli is clearly banking on next year’s awards season to revive red carpet dressing. Roseberry scored a coup in January by dressing Beyoncé for the Golden Globes.
“This period of confinement has allowed us to brainstorm new ideas and new projects,” Bellini noted.
Among them, the launch in the next few weeks of Instagram sales for limited-edition jewelry and accessories, which will drop at random intervals. “The first will take place in the next few days,” Bellini said. “The next step is the opening of the e-boutique this fall.”
The site will be restricted to clients of the house, who will receive an individual access code offering limited-edition and customizable products, in addition to one-off items. They will also have access to personalized content and services designed to mirror the exclusive ambience at the Schiaparelli salons.
Nonetheless, the house has not abandoned its plan for a shop-in-shop at Bergdorf Goodman, originally due to open in June, even though the retailer’s parent company Neiman Marcus Group filed for bankruptcy in May.
“We continue to wait for a favorable evolution of the situation in the United States to implement this project,” Bellini said.
The house has canceled the trunk shows it planned to hold in the U.S., but hopes to reschedule some of them toward the end of the year, if COVID-19 restrictions allow. By next January, it expects to be back on the Paris runway with a new couture collection for spring 2021.
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