Rochas is gunning for a comeback below the artistic route of Alessandro Vigilante. There’s plenty of work to do right here—in spite of everything, Rochas is greatest identified for fragrances lately—so logically sufficient the designer began again at sq. one, draping a salon within the Hôtel d’Évreux in hibiscus pink and rustling up some Marcel Rochas signatures like squared jacket necklines, a peplum or an hourglass jacket to jog the style world’s reminiscence. Requested to explain what Rochas ought to imply right this moment, Vigilante replied “magnificence, simplicity and youth,” and he piled on plenty of fantasy whereas he was at it, however mercifully stopped wanting bare dressing.
The purpose of departure was a 1939 {photograph} by Carlo Mollino entitled “Fairytales for Adults,” which exhibits a mannequin stepping out of a wardrobe in a satin robe. Behind her, one divines a closet crammed not simply with garments, but additionally with curios. Reminiscent of these occasions, Vigilante picked out French lace with a scalloped Artwork Deco motif, fashioning it into little slip attire in champagne beige or black adorned with lacy ribbons whose tails have been left to flutter because the wearer moved (these lace stockings have been truly an archival re-creation). Backstage, the moodboard cited the indomitable Diana Vreeland, who proclaimed “the attention has to journey.” And so it did right here, alighting on variously intelligent and unbelievable concepts. Along with these slip attire, a number of seems to be made a case for dressed-down fancy, for instance in margarita inexperienced cargo pants minimize in duchesse satin, or a two-tiered duchesse skirt in petrol blue paired with a lighter blue wool cardigan. Lots of the materials, resembling a chocolate brocade, technical, froissé or dévoré velvet, and emerald satin, have been lush. Most equipment and among the garments—a blanket wrap, a skirt sewn with curlicued silver ribbons—hinted at a sly wit and a style for surrealism. However the Rochas lady has been all around the map of late and Vigilante comes backed by huge ambitions. Let’s see what materializes in that closet every time she decides to step out of the boudoir.
