Parisian haute couture opens with Schiaparelli

The Paris couture season began Monday morning with the Schiaparelli show, as white limousines and Rolls Royces transported Serena Williams, Kelly Rutherford and Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu to the surreal spectacle.

A technically brilliant display whose initial look was a phoenix dress, where two 3D chrome trompe l'oeil feather wings gently wrapped around a stunning black fashion, adorned with silver eggshell earrings.

A show titled The Phoenix, which refers to a time when founder Elsa Schiaparelli dressed in a coq feather stole in homage to the great dancer Anna Pavlova, who was a kind of double. However, while Anna was always linked to her performances in The Dying Swan, Elsa was the phoenix, constantly reinventing herself.

A leitmotif of the entire collection, where washed silk dresses or wool crepe bustier dresses had shoulders in the shape of Phoenix wings, often with plunging necklines.

Impeccably set up in the basement of the Solomon de Rothschild Hotel, converted into a black box, with a thick shag carpet and only three huge chandeliers for decoration.

The cast paraded to the front row, all lit from below with small beams of light, “to get the Degas lighting,” Schiaparelli creative director Daniel Roseberry noted after the show.

Each model's head wrapped in sheer crepe, all looking directly into the guests' eyes. Demand attention on social media via iPhone with editors and fans. One of those great shows where the models feel so obviously empowered that they practically burn.

Most of the dresses ended in a corset-style back, including a remarkable bodice dress in a millefeuille of hundreds of moving circles that undulated throughout the ensemble.

An almost hallucinatory fashion moment, which included a cocoon-shaped jumpsuit made of faux horsehair and sequins that recreated a zebra skin, and a fantasy bird-of-paradise jacket with trompe-l'oeil feathers.

Backed by a mournful soundtrack of ballads, including Nina Simone singing Plain gold ring.

“I wanted it to look like a surreal, hyper-sensual ballet,” Roseberry explained, almost hoarse, after the show in the mansion's courtyard. “I didn't want to feel homesick. I was afraid of a tribute. So I wanted it to look old, but young and twisted at the same time,” she concluded.