At Schiaparelli&rsquo;s Fall 2025 couture show, Daniel Roseberry reimagined the house&rsquo;s surrealist codes with sharp tailoring, sculptural gowns, and a rhinestoned revival of the whale tail thong.

At <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion-week/all-the-celebrities-at-haute-couture-week-in-paris-front-row-cardi-b-gracie-abrams-dua-lipa">Paris Couture Week</a>, few names draw as much anticipation as <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion-week/celebrities-at-schiaparelli-haute-couture-fall-2025-show-paris-cardi-b-dua-lipa-hunter-schafer">Schiaparelli</a>, and this season, the haute couture house opened the official calendar with a striking, tightly curated presentation.&nbsp;
Creative director <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/daniel-roseberry-schiaparelli-fashion-designer-an-american-in-paris">Daniel Roseberry</a> looked to the past&mdash;not to replicate it, but to reimagine it entirely. The collection, shown in a strict black and white palette, channeled the house&rsquo;s legacy of conceptual provocation while expanding its visual vocabulary. There were the architectural silhouettes we expect: cinched suits, bias-cut dresses with <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/how-to-style-sheer-pants-celebrity-naked-dressing">sheer illusion</a> evoking the <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/cannes-film-festival-bans-risque-naked-dresses-red-carpet-2025">popular naked dress</a>, and sculptural bodices that nodded to the house&rsquo;s surrealist roots. Roseberry was after variety this season.&nbsp;

Schiaparelli Fall/Winter 2025 Haute Couture. Photography courtesy of Schiaparelli.

The beauty was equally controlled: models wore clean, minimal makeup to emphasize the black lipstick, aside from a single standout look punctuated by a <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/beauty/celebrities-who-have-mastered-the-dark-red-lip">bold red lip</a>, meant to symbolize what the house calls &ldquo;the sunset of elegance.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Schiaparelli&rsquo;s Fall/Winter 2025 Haute Couture collection was a show rooted in the house&rsquo;s history but looking ahead: an &ldquo;old world, post-future&rdquo; vision that stripped away the noise of modernity. <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/history-of-maison-schiaparelli-elsa-schiaparelli-shocking-pink-daniel-roseberry">Elsa Schiaparelli</a> once asked whether fashion could be art. Daniel Roseberry answers with a clear yes, but make it wearable, too. Hidden surrealist touches&mdash;measuring tape embroidery, ceramic anatomical icons tucked inside the tailoring&mdash;nod to the founder&rsquo;s codes.

And then came the mic-drop moment; the whale tail thong is officially couture. In Look 20, a flowing bias-cut satin gown stunned from the back with a silver rhinestone-encrusted whale tail thong. Roseberry made his point clear: the once-controversial &lsquo;90s staple can be elevated to the realm of high fashion. High fashion has always flirted with sex, but this was cheeky in every sense&mdash;and done with the kind precision and polish that made it unmistakably Schiaparelli.&nbsp;

Paris Hilton. Getty Images.

Gucci Spring/Summer 1997. Getty Images.

Where&rsquo;d the inspiration for the whale tail thong come from, you ask? The look first gained traction in the &lsquo;90s and early 2000s, when it became the calling card of the era&rsquo;s most iconic It Girls: Britney Spears, Victoria Beckham, and Paris Hilton. They often styled it with <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/ciara-style-low-rise-jeans-outfits-2000s">ultra-low-rise jeans</a>, with the thong&rsquo;s straps proudly visible above the waistband.&nbsp;
Its most unforgettable fashion moment came at <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/gucci-cruise-2026-runway">Gucci&rsquo;s</a> Spring/Summer 1997 show with <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/travel-living/tom-ford-mansions-portfolio-london-home">Tom Ford</a>, aka the King of Sexy, at the helm. Models walked down the runway in little more than barely-there thongs and <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/how-to-style-sheer-shirt-sheer-dress-naked-dressing-trend">sheer blouses</a>. The statement was hard to miss: sexy wasn&rsquo;t a suggestion, it was a directive.&nbsp;

Alexa Demie. Getty Images.

Hailey Bieber. Getty Images.

Fast forward to 2019, and <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/hailey-bieber-celebrates-rhode-billion-dollar-elf-deal-saint-laurent-mini-dress">Hailey Bieber</a> revived the whale tail thong for the Met Gala&rsquo;s &ldquo;Camp: Notes on Fashion&rdquo; theme in a baby pink backless Alexander Wang gown with thong straps on full display. A month later, Euphoria star Alexa Demie took it to the red carpet in a snakeskin turtleneck gown with a backless cutout and shimmering rhinestone thong straps.&nbsp;
Since then, it&rsquo;s crept back into the style conversation, as seen on <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/bella-hadid-bikinis-best-swimsuits">Bella Hadid</a>, Dua Lipa, and others, usually peeking out from low-rise denim in pure Y2K, Paris Hilton-coded fashion. It comes as no surprise, then, that after this season&rsquo;s Schiaparelli show, <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/shopping/dua-lipa-best-bikini-looks-swimsuits">Dua Lipa</a> declared the whale tail thong look as her favorite.&nbsp;
We&rsquo;ve also seen subtler nods on the runway and the red carpet, like at Versace&rsquo;s Spring/Summer 2021 show and Zendaya&rsquo;s barely-there interpretation at the Dune: Part Two premiere.&nbsp;
But Schiaparelli doesn&rsquo;t deal in subtlety. Roseberry&rsquo;s vision is a full-throttle return: bold, sculptural, and dripping in silver rhinestones. In true Schiaparelli form, it transforms a once-taboo trend into an audacious statement of couture.&nbsp;

Schiaparelli Revives the Whale Tail Thong at Paris Couture Week

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