how antoni gaudí’s architecture found its way into schiaparelli haute couture
By thomai tsimpou I designboom
Daniel Roseberry’s latest haute couture collection for Schiaparelli begins with architecture. After visiting Antoni Gaudí’s buildings in Barcelona, the creative director found himself questioning the creative formula that had defined his previous season. The resulting fall/winter 2026–27 collection, The Call of the Void, translates Gaudí’s organic forms, sculptural construction, and material experimentation into couture garments that replace traditional silks and satins with silicone, latex, and hand-crafted surfaces. Roseberry adopts Gaudí’s approach to material, structure, and nature, using couture as a medium for architectural thinking.
The influence is most apparent in the collection’s sculptural silhouettes and richly textured surfaces. A pale pink silicone bustier dress is paired with a densely embroidered skirt composed of thousands of flowers, fish scales, ribbons, and pearls, creating a fragmented surface that recalls the broken ceramic mosaics, or trencadís, found throughout Gaudí’s buildings. Embroidered jackets are reduced to sculptural elements that frame the body, while exaggerated shoulders and flowing silicone forms echo the architect’s preference for fluid, organic geometries over rigid symmetry.
all images courtesy of Schiaparelli, unless stated otherwise
Roseberry’s dialogue with Gaudí extends beyond aesthetics to material experimentation. In the collection notes, the designer describes replacing couture’s traditional textiles with latex, silicone, and sheets of baked paint shaped into garments. The shift mirrors Gaudí’s own willingness to elevate unconventional construction methods and humble materials into expressive architectural forms. Here, silicone takes on the visual qualities of polished ceramic, while embroidery becomes an architectural surface.
Nature also provides a shared vocabulary. Gaudí famously treated natural systems as structural models rather than decorative references, and Roseberry similarly draws from marine life and botany throughout the collection. Shell earrings lined with porcelain, octopus-inspired jewelry, sea anemone-like silicone accessories, fish scales, and embroidered flowers reinforce an organic language that runs consistently through both the garments and accessories. The palette, spanning lobster pink, saffron, pale mint, violet, and deep black, further evokes coastal landscapes and marine ecosystems.
The collection also challenges one of Schiaparelli’s own signatures. The house’s iconic jacket is reimagined as a sculptural accessory designed to complete an outfit. This deliberate shift reflects Roseberry’s broader intention to question inherited house codes while echoing Elsa Schiaparelli’s belief that familiar forms should continually be reinvented.
The Call of the Void draws from Gaudí’s organic forms, sculptural construction, and material experimentation
embroidered jackets are reduced to sculptural elements that frame the body
Casa Mila, La Pedrera. Barcelona | image via Àngels / Flickr
Sala Hipóstila | Leandro Neumann Ciuffo, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Casa Batlló Contemporary signals a step in how the building engages with today’s culture | image via @sutton
collection: The Call of the Void – Haute Couture Fall/Winter 2026–2027
fashion house: Schiaparelli | @schiaparelli
creative director: Daniel Roseberry
season: Haute Couture Fall/Winter 2026–2027
This article was originally published by Designboom.