Fashion

Schiaparelli Body Painted

A recurring theme at Schiaparelli’s, a nude body in golden trompe l'oeil is featured on many silhouettes of the Spring-Summer 2023 collection.
Photos: Courtesy of Schiaparelli

Applied on leather bodysuits, cotton Tshirts, poplin or satin dresses, sweaters and stretch viscose dresses, this naked body motif is hand-painted with a Japanese brush usually reserved for calligraphy using a mixture of metal powder, pale gold and glue. Copper sheets are then glued and applied by hand on the painting. It takes eight hours of work to complete this delicate work and paint a model. In the manner of Yves Klein's Anthropometries, where the models' bodies covered in paint are used as an imprint that is deposited on the white canvas, the painted motif becomes a trompe-l'oeil that plays on the discrepancy between the body wearing the garment and the body painted on the garment. A very Schiaparelli way of twisting a look and reintroducing a poetry of everyday life that blurs the lines between illusion and reality.