Chloe Wong reports 10 essential insights into Roseberry’s transformative work at Schiaparelli
Daniel Roseberry has emerged as one of fashion’s most exciting creative forces since becoming Artistic Director of Schiaparelli in 2019. Schiaparelli is famous for making headlines with its avant-grade and often surrealist designs that shock the internet. The Texas-born designer has reinvigorated the historic Parisian house with his bold, surreal aesthetic while honoring its legacy of craftsmanship and artistry.
1. Unlikely background for haute couture
Roseberry grew up in a conservative evangelical community in Texas, with his father being an Anglican minister, before studying fashion at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT). Although he dropped out of FIT in 2008, he hit the ground running, working at Thom Browne for ten years and eventually becoming the brand’s design director. His journey from small-town America to the pinnacle of Parisian couture is as unconventional as his designs.
2. No background in haute couture
Roseberry was declared Schiaparelli’s creative director in 2019, taking over from Bertrand Guyon. He was the youngest, and first-ever American to lead a French couture house, being only 33 years of age at the time. Roseberry didn’t even have any training in haute couture and spoke no French but managed to build a legacy in Schiaparelli.
3. Continuing the surrealist tradition
Paying homage to its founder, Elsa Schiaparelli, he continued working with inspiration from Surrealism codes, while also working to subvert the, and contribute to a new aesthetic. Roseberry frequently uses gold jewelry and abstract shapes common in Surrealism while fusing them with repurposed denim and melded metal breast plates and body parts. He has perfected the art of creating pieces that balance artistic extravagance with actual wearability.
4. Celebrity magnetism
Roseberry’s designs have become red carpet luxuries, desired and worn by stars like Lady Gaga, Bella Hadid, and Doja Cat who appreciate his bold, statement-making aesthetic. Bella Hadid wore a long black dress with a low cut neckline, high lifting a gliilded brass necklace made in the shape of tromps l’oeil lungs for the 2025 Cannes Festival. Cynthia Erivo was also spotted wearing Schiaparelli during the 2025 Tony Awards, wearing a heavily beaded off-the-shoulder bodice decorated with intricate crystals and silver floral embellishments.
5. Growing up as a young gay man in America
Considering Roseberry’s heavily religious household in a conservative small town in the southern states of America, it’s safe to say he did not feel very welcomed. Roseberry remembers going through a journey of self-hatred and thinking he was broken before accepting his sexuality. He even rejected his admission into FIT twice because he had fears of straying from his modest and sexually inhibited household teachings.
6. Hand-drawn design process
Roseberry keeps it traditional and old school by beginning each collection with spontaneous sketches of his designs, maintaining an organic creative approach. For Roseberry, inspiration is a force that hits him unexpectedly and manifests physically through his artistic direction. Roseberry has taken to instagram to show his series of sketches, strokes of genius on paper, contriving a treasure trove of designs from his pen.
7. A safe haven at Thom Browne
Roseberry has opened up about his personal style, to which he feels clueless about, unlike most designers whose style can be distinctly connected to their brand. To him, Thom Browne was a familiar space, being someone who had been in uniform since second grade. However, it was also at Thom Browne where he learned everything, from the practical to the creative aspects of working with high fashion.
8. His attitude on phones in the runway
Roseberry has been transparent about his desire to have an engaged audience during his runway shows instead of everyone looking at their phone screens. He equated it to going to a movie theatre a watching the movie through your phone screens m a major missed opportunity to appreciate the artistry and craft with your very own eyes.
9. He does a mantra before each show
Instead of focusing on storytelling like most designers, Roseberry highlights the focus on emotional payoff. The muses and inspirations he presents are a consequence of how he wants people to feel during and after the show, what echos about these house in the mind. Roseberry even has a mantra-setting exercise where he pretends he is writing for Vogue about his show.
10. Designer since a young age
Roseberry had started sketching since he was 12, remembering how he went to a wedding and didn’t like what the bridesmaids were wearing, and so set out on sketching during his entire car ride home. He drew with the anticipation of how he wanted people to look. During that car ride, Roseberry confessed a flame was lit in him, something that pushed him to move to New York and be a designer.
