When Kylie Jenner stood on the marble steps of the Petit Palais in 2023, a fake lion head attached to her off-shoulder dress, even by the standards of the youngest member of the Kardashian clan, the outfit looked a bit much. Kylie Jenner in January 2023, Paris. Photograph: Laurent VU/Sipa/Rex/Shutterstock Hand-painted for lifelike realism, the Schiaparelli head and dress were designed by the Texan Daniel Roseberry. Although already four years in the role of artistic director, the look was transformative – earning Jenner front row seats at the biggest shows and propelling the nearly century-old Paris fashion house, long overshadowed by Chanel, Balenciaga, and Dior, into viral ubiquity. As the focus of the V&A’s new blockbuster exhibition about Schiaparelli wants to make clear, this moment-making approach to fashion is not simply a reflection of the social media age but entirely in keeping with the spirit of its Italian founder, Elsa Schiaparelli. “I don’t consider Elsa to be a dressmaker”, says Roseberry. “She was an image-maker, a culture creator, and she has been our north star …