Hats on for Elsa Schiaparelli’s joyful, triumphant return to Paris’s Haute Couture week

The fashion house that brought us culottes, wedge heels and shocking pink has made a triumphant return to Paris’s haute couture week, ending nearly six decades of anticipation.

Forty years after the death of its founder Elsa Schiaparelli — a designer widely credited with being the most original the fashion world has ever known — the House of Schiaparelli staged an intimate catwalk show in Paris’s Place Vendôme this morning.

The venue, metres away from the atelier which served as Schiaparelli’s HQ during her Thirties reign as Coco Chanel’s fierce rival, served as a fitting backdrop for a collection that was a love letter to the label’s creator.

The show was watched by a host of fashionable faces, including Jean Paul Gaultier, Elle Macpherson and Carla Bruni, who saw the Parisian institution declare business as usual.

The house is now in the care of acclaimed womenswear designer Marco Zanini, who sought to translate “Elsa Schiaparelli’s spirit into a collection relevant for today’s women”. He was chosen for the job by accessory tycoon Diego Della Valle, who acquired the then defunct Schiaparelli house in 2006.

Taking on board the playful, jovial codes pioneered by Schiaparelli, Zanini’s vision exploded on to the catwalk with a series of draped robes, masculine silhouettes and cleverly crafted millinery.

Keen to celebrate the house’s infatuation with abstract colour — Schiaparelli regularly enlisted the likes of Dali and Picasso to collaborate with her on collections — Zanini unveiled pantaloons hand-painted with tulip motifs and flowing, polka-dot bardot-style gowns. Zanini sought to escape convention with this collection. The most outlandish pieces included gowns trimmed with extravagant puff-sleeves, a flowing blanket coat in ice blue and a stunning brocade swimsuit.

An iridescent ivy-leaf effect, inspired by Schiaparelli’s 1938 Pagan collection and used on silk cigaline, allowed a sense of femininity.

But it was Zanini’s hats that served as the icing on the cake. Channelling Schiaparelli’s infatuation with extraordinary headwear, the Italian designer transformed each model into a character through veils, upturned straw boaters, goblin hats and wigs.

On a Paris couture schedule that grows more stagnant with every season, this playful approach felt like a breath of fresh air and one that is certain to delight the loyal, if diminishing, customer base, who rely on aspirational designers for impeccable clothes that ooze creativity.

The same enthusiasts are expected to attend a Christie’s Paris auction on Wednesday, at which clothes owned by Schiaparelli are to be sold.