Cardi B, a crow and the Americans taking over Paris Fashion Week

A warm “howdy” is becoming more appropriate than a breathy “bonjour” backstage at Paris Fashion Week. On day one, Americans are already the flavour of the autumn/winter 2026 haute couture season at two leading fashion houses, leaving the acquired taste of French designers in short supply.

The week dedicated to clothes for the rich, where gowns can cost anywhere between $77,000 and  $1,230,000, began with a collection brimming with historical references from US designer Daniel Roseberry at Schiaparelli.

Who is buying the matador suits and gowns with jutting hips and shoulders? Lauren Sanchez wore a gold corset dress from Schiaparelli as part of her pre-wedding festivities with Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos. The dress, with floral hand embroidery, was estimated to have cost $US100,000 ($154,000).

Roseberry has risen to the top of the Parisienne ranks by embracing the drama of the label, founded by Italian designer Elsa Schiaparelli in 1927, which gained fame for its surrealist touches. In 2023, Roseberry gave us Kylie Jenner wearing a realistic lion’s head in the front row, yesterday it was Cardi B arriving cocooned in a black velvet gown with pearl fringing, an exaggerated U-neckline and a crow on a leash.

Cardi B asked the paparazzi to be quiet, to not scare the bird. Pop singer Dua Lipa, in a white gown with paillettes and a keyhole cut-out endured the photographers screams, arriving without a bird, or even a key.

The highlight of the Schiaparelli show was a dress with a faux décolletage on the back and a beating red diamanté heart. It’s unlikely to inspire any Zara dresses but could turn up at Lauren Sanchez-Bezos’s Valentine’s Day celebrations.

Groundwork for the US invasion began the day before the Schiaparelli show, with Washington DC-born designer Michael Rider debuting as creative director at Celine.

Having worked at the French fashion house in the past, with stints at Balenciaga and Ralph Lauren, Rider’s ready-to-wear show was a confident presentation of early 80s silhouettes with roomy red leather jackets, skinny jeans and suits with broad shoulders and nipped waists.