After just eight weeks of focused training, the fashion designer takes on 26.2 miles, discovering a new relationship with his body, the city of New York and himself.
For Daniel Roseberry, creative director of Schiaparelli, marathon Sunday was an unforgettable experience. The designer remembers the sunlight filtering across the streets, the steady rhythm of running shoes against the pavement and the rare moments of quiet as he crossed a bridge. But what stayed with him most was the overwhelming support of friends, family and strangers cheering along the route.
“There are no words to describe it,” Roseberry tells Vogue after completing his first New York City Marathon. “This day will stay with me … for a long time.”
Roseberry finished the 26.2-mile race in an impressive 4 hours and 24 minutes, joining nearly 60,000 participants who took part in this year’s event.
An unexpected journey from Paris to New York
Just a year ago, Roseberry had no plans to run a marathon. His interest began last Christmas, when he spontaneously went for a run along the Seine in Paris. Although he had lived and worked in the French capital since 2019, the experience gave him a renewed appreciation for the city and its surroundings.
That simple run sparked something unexpected. Ten months later, he was preparing to take on one of the world’s most celebrated road races.
“I just want to finish, and be able to walk,” he had joked during a FaceTime conversation the day before the marathon. In the end, he achieved more than that: he completed the entire course without walking.
Roseberry chose New York partly because he was already scheduled to attend the Hirshhorn Gala, where he would receive the Leader in the Arts Award on Monday. With Halloween celebrations also taking place across the city, the timing felt ideal.
“It just had to be New York,” he says.
Eight weeks of intense preparation
Roseberry began structured marathon training in September while simultaneously preparing Schiaparelli’s Spring 2027 ready-to-wear collection.
Working with his trainer of two years, Jonathan Fins, he developed a demanding program built around his existing fitness routine, which included strength training, mobility work and calisthenics. His physical abilities were already impressive—he could perform 24 pull-ups—but marathon running required a different kind of endurance.
The training schedule included progressively longer weekly runs, eventually reaching 33 kilometers, or approximately 20 miles, before reducing mileage ahead of race day to allow his body to recover.
For Roseberry, the experience also offered a welcome change from his usual professional responsibilities.
“Most days, everyone’s looking to me for answers,” he says. “With this, I was able to put myself into the care of another person.”
The energy of New York carries him through
Race day began at 3:30 a.m. for Roseberry, who boarded a bus at 5 a.m. bound for Staten Island, where the marathon starts. The journey takes runners across all five boroughs before finishing in Central Park.
The atmosphere on the bus was quiet, but anticipation was building. Roseberry was assigned to the final wave, scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m., meaning he had to wait approximately five hours after arriving before setting off.
The opening stretch presented one of the course’s biggest challenges: the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge. The four-mile crossing includes a two-mile climb with a 174-foot elevation gain, making it the highest ascent on the route.
Beyond the bridge, the crowds became increasingly visible. Spectators lined the streets, cheering for runners they had never met and encouraging them by name.
“The city really shows up, and it’s beautiful,” Roseberry says. “All these people cheering for you… and they don’t know you. They’re cheering your name, telling you you can do it. It really carries you and is a beautiful representation of humanity at its best. It transcended every expectation I had.”
“It Transcended Every Expectation I Had”: Daniel Roseberry Takes Us Through His First Marathon
Marathon Sunday was a blur, but Schiaparelli creative director Daniel Roseberry does remember a few things vividly: the dappled light across the 26.2-mile route; the rhythmic sounds of sneakers against pavement as he strode onto a bridge and the crowds faded away; the absolutely perfect weather; and the overwhelming feeling of love he felt as he saw his friends and family on the sidelines, cheering him on.
“There are no words to describe it,” Roseberry tells Vogue of running the New York City Marathon, his first. “This day will stay with me … for a long time.”
The funny thing is, this time last year Roseberry had no intention of taking on the arduous course. But last Christmas, the designer went out on an impulsive—and what would prove to be fateful—run through Paris along the Seine, the city’s famous central waterway. While he was no stranger to the magic and romance of the city where he has lived and worked since 2019, the run opened his eyes to his surroundings in new and profound ways. Something awoke in him, and, ten months later, he found himself among the nearly 60,000 participants of the New York City Marathon, which he completed in 4 hours and 24 minutes.
Roseberry started the day early, at 3:30 a.m., before taking a 5:00 a.m. bus to Staten Island, where the race begins before winding its way through the remaining four boroughs and ending in Central Park. “It was pin-drop silent on the bus,” he recalls. “But you can sense everyone’s energy. It’s like this pent-up anticipation.” He was part of the last wave, which set off at 11:30 a.m., meaning that after he arrived he had to wait five hours before starting his journey.
After scaling the route’s opening gambit—the four-mile-long Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, with a two-mile, 174-foot elevation gain, the race’s highest climb—the infamous crowds that line the route started to materialize. “The city really shows up, and it’s beautiful. All these people cheering for you… and they don’t know you. They’re cheering your name, telling you you can do it. It really carries you and is a beautiful representation of humanity at its best. It transcended every expectation I had.”
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Music, running gear and staying present
During training, Roseberry often spent the first half of his runs talking with Fins, occasionally disagreeing along the way. The second half was reserved for music, with Olivia Rodrigo, Taylor Swift and Rosalía among the artists featured on his playlist.
He had prepared an elaborate soundtrack for marathon day, but ultimately listened to it for only about 15 minutes.
“It didn’t feel like it was in the spirit of the day,” he explains. “I wanted to be in the moment, honor it, and take it all in. I wanted to be present with the other runners, and with the people who came to watch.”
His running wardrobe was equally considered. He wore Asics Gel-Kayano running shoes, Nike socks, open-weave cotton tank tops from Sunspel and inexpensive wraparound sunglasses purchased in several colors from Dick’s Sporting Goods in Maine.
The sunglasses reportedly cost just $15—a modest accessory choice from a designer celebrated for creating extravagant couture.
How running changed his perspective on fashion
The marathon also influenced the way Roseberry thinks about his work.
Training and running gave him a different understanding of the body, something particularly relevant to a designer whose creations often explore dramatic shapes, proportions and silhouettes.
“It had me thinking about the body in different ways,” he says. “How could it not?”
He was especially drawn to the marathon’s clearly defined structure: a beginning, an ending and a single continuous journey. He hopes to carry that sense of focus into his work in fashion, where competing demands and constant activity can make it difficult to concentrate on one complete vision.
A personal transformation beyond the finish line
For Roseberry, completing the marathon represented something deeper than physical achievement. In a voice note recorded on race morning, he reflected on how the training process connected with a broader personal transformation.
He described spending much of his first four decades seeking other people’s approval while neglecting his own needs and physical well-being. The marathon became an opportunity to envision a goal, prepare for it and complete it through a different relationship with himself.
“The transformation isn’t transforming into somebody different or somebody new or something better,” he explained. “It’s about remembering what my body was always capable of in the first place.”
He described the experience as reconnecting with a version of himself he had rediscovered a year earlier, with the final eight weeks of training serving as a way to honor that relationship.
After crossing the finish line, Roseberry celebrated with pizza and pasta, followed by plans for a second dinner from Shake Shack. He also looked forward to recovering in Therabody compression boots.
The support of friends and family made the day even more memorable, with loved ones cheering him along the route and celebrating his achievement afterward.
Photo: Daniel Roseberry
Will he run again?
Despite the exhaustion, Roseberry was already thinking about returning. During the early miles of the race, around mile four or five, he called a friend and announced that they would be doing it again the following year.
When asked whether he plans to return to the New York City Marathon, his answer was immediate.
“Oh, yeah,” he says.
For the Schiaparelli creative director, the first marathon was about much more than a finishing time. It was an exercise in discipline, self-discovery and reconnecting with the possibilities of his own body. And judging by his enthusiasm, this is only the beginning.
Emily’s passion for fashion journalism and her keen eye for runway trends make her the ultimate source for the latest fashion news and exclusive insights into the glamorous world of catwalks.