Paris Couture Week opened on 7 July with an unexpected tableau outside the Petit Palais: U.S. rapper Cardi B arrived for Schiaparelli’s Fall/Winter 2025 show holding a live crow, an accessory that immediately drew cameras and shifted attention from the runway to the entrance. The stunt set a surreal tone that echoed the house’s history of mixing haute couture with the absurd. Inside, creative director Daniel Roseberry presented a monochrome collection that relied on graphic fringe, sweeping gowns and sharply tailored jackets while purposely avoiding the extreme corsetry for which recent seasons had been criticised. Roseberry said the line was inspired by founder Elsa Schiaparelli’s 1940 flight from Nazi-occupied Paris, describing it as a meditation on “the sunset of elegance” and a re-imagining of archival codes for a post-AI age. The front row was equally star-studded, with Karol G, Dua Lipa and Hunter Schafer among the guests. Cardi B later appeared at other couture week shows—including Stéphane Rolland and Balenciaga—yet it was her crow-toting entrance at Schiaparelli that became the defining image of the season’s opening day.