From Doja Cat being bedazzled with Swarovski all over to Kylie Jenner sitting in the front row wearing a lion’s head, here is what the Internet did not like about Schiaparelli’s Spring 2023 Haute Couture collection.
When haute couture becomes not-so-hot couture says the Internet!
As soon as photos started circulating online on the recent Schiaparelli Spring 2023 Haute Couture show in Paris, it immediately received flack as the Internet started claiming that the collection indirectly promotes trophy hunting. Trophy hunting by definition is the act of hunting animals or “game” as they are called, for sport, and later on, their carcasses are displayed at home.
Schiaparelli’s artistic director Daniel Roseberry took inspiration from Dante Alighieri’s ‘The Divine Comedy’ for the collection that featured taxidermy-Esque severed heads of a lion, leopard, and she-wolf- the three beasts Dante first encountered before making it to Inferno. These beasts respectively represent pride, lust, and avarice.
Despite the Parisian fashion house’s clarification that no animals were harmed in the making of the collection, and that the embroidered animals were actually handpainted, the Internet still believes the collection was a distasteful take on Alighieri’s 14th Century poem.
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To give credit where credit is due, the intricacy in the process of creating the pieces that were made out of “sculpted foam, resin, wool, and silk faux fur” as mentioned in the post made by Schiaparelli, must really be commended. It takes a certain amount of artistry and expertise to make these pieces. The faux animal heads really did look realistic and that is why it is unsettling for the Internet.
The Internet, however, still believes the collection apart from indirectly promoting trophy hunting, displays poor taste. In Schiaparelli’s ‘Leo Couture’ post featuring Kylie Jenner, who wore the piece while sitting in the front row of the show, were those that called for the halt of showcasing animals as “luxury products” in the comments, noting the unsettling history of hunting these animals have experienced through the years.
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As it was said in ‘The Devil Wears Prada’, fashion affects everyone. This is why it is important for the fashion runners of the world to know their responsibility and use the platform and influence they have for the better.
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