In 1952, Elsa Schiaparelli ventured to Fiera de Santana in Brazil, where she described being “dressed in a cowboy outfit embroidered with white butterflies... in [her] hands held a lasso to catch an invisible cow!” Shortly after the cattle drive, the Vaquieros, or cowboys, rode with Schiaparelli back to the corral. It was here that she was awarded the ‘Order of the Vaquieros,’ something she likened to a primitive rite.

Why the cowboy discussion? Well, Schiaparelli’s current creative director, Daniel Roseberry, was born and raised in Plano, Texas, the ‘Lone Star State.’ His childhood in the southwest, along with Schiaparelli’s travels to South America, informed much of the styling and accessories shown for the house’s Fall/Winter 2025 collection, which was developed in combination with the strong shoulder and 1940s ‘power dressing’ silhouette renowned in another part of the Americas... Hollywood.

Linebacker-like shoulders were shown in a sculpted pantsuit with a nipped-in waist and flared pant—one in a combination of browns, the other in fallow—a slinky viscose knit jumpsuit in deep russet, and a long dress in chicory. Where the pique wasn’t revealing skin, they were fastened with small bows that were dotted down the centre front. The emphasis on the shoulder was seen in a plush fun-fur coat with exaggerated raglan sleeves that was styled with a leather corset and belt. 

When the shoulder was not the focus, emphasis was firmly placed on the waist. Silver-tipped ‘Ranger’ belts were lassoed around waists; often three were layered at a time, one with a massively large horseshoe buckle. The use of a silver tip detail on a bodice that was styled over trousers worked in the theme too. The Vaquieros style continued with an oversized black stonewashed ‘Canadian tuxedo’ and a large black leather-tasseled coat. There were chap-style trousers and even Vaqueros in a furry fabrication. For the Minnesota winters, described as “colder than a landlord's heart,” the American wrangler would wear ‘kersey’ or long johns, styled with woolly angora chaps over the top. Roseberry’s fun-fur version of these chaps had a matching jacket and a slinky black halter neck worn underneath.

Schiaparelli’s trip to Brazil came two years before the brand was shuttered in 1954; its 21st-century revival happened in 2012. Discussing her life in Shocking Life (published in the same year as the closure of the label), Schiaparelli shared anecdotes of her intercontinental travels and experiences ensconced in, and dressing as, the leisured class. Schiaparelli also reflected on the aegis that was the Maison. She took every chance to mystify her life and work, as well as issue her famously cryptic edicts.

During her tenure, Schiaparelli sold her clothes to the yet-to-be-called café society, including Wallis Warfield Simpson and Millicent Rogers, the daughter of the ‘petrol king,’ who was photographed wearing the ‘Hall of Mirrors’ jacket and dress from the Zodiac collection in 1938. It was the ‘Hall of Mirrors’ jacket that was revamped by Roseberry, who turned the knob on the dial all the way up in the form of a fitted waist and jutting shoulder, and the shiny fabrication.

Roseberry's two final looks coalesced the key threads of his vision; this season was pared back in comparison to previous outputs. The shock of the new seemed to be the body consciousness, which updated the back catalogue of Schiaparelli’s 1930s evening jackets. 

The martial swagger of a bigger shoulder, and the addition of western Ranger belts, leather gaucho trousers and a cattle rustler energy were what made the collection feel undeniably now-y and street-ready; it also resisted any feeling of over-sentimentality. It was ranch-flavoured, but with a Schiaparelli twist.