The moment I saw this photo of Regina King from this year’s Emmy’s…
…I immediately thought of the Scrovegni Chapel ceiling:
The dress is haute couture, Look 29 of Schiaparelli’s Spring/Summer 2020 collection. It’s described on the fashion house’s website as an “asymmetric bustier dress in electric blue faille embroidered with multicolored jewels.”
The Scrovegni Chapel ceiling is part of a fresco cycle narrating the lives of Christ and Mary, completed by Giotto c. 1305. The cycle is described by many as monumental, ambitious, his masterwork.
The similarity between the dress and the ceiling is uncanny—not just the brilliant blue and decorative medallion accents, but the possible nod toward veneration of the Virgin, too. More conspiracy than coincidence, if you ask me.
Is the dress designed to resemble the ceiling, and/or imply Marian associations, on purpose? I emailed the fashion house back in September and asked. So far, no response. Womp.