Nostalgia runs rampant in fashion these days, but Gherardo Felloni doesn’t seem to mind. Nor does he place Roger Vivier in the same category as other names doing it — despite the French heritage brand’s vast archives and reliance on them.
“There is before Roger Vivier, where shoes were without shape or decoration, and then there is after Roger Vivier,” the creative director said at the brand’s spring ‘24 Paris Fashion Week presentation on Thursday. “He changed the approach. He was an architect, and he was working on this strange heel that was impossible before. That’s why they are contemporary in a way.”
Felloni has been pulling style references from Vivier’s vast archives ever since he came to the brand in 2018. But the designer might have fully hit his stride this season with the reintroduction of the Viv’ Canard, a slingback named for its duckbill shape that comes from the 1960s.
“I decided to make it longer – but not too much,” he said. “Every time I take a last from the archives, I take a lot of attention to not ruin it, to not push it too far. If not, it becomes too seasonal, and I don’t like it. I like the idea that you buy shoes for the rest of your life. That’s the challenge.”
The designer said he sees a diluted market when it comes to trends, and an inevitable realignment needed following the pandemic. “Balance is coming back,” he declared.
While he admitted there are palpable Y2K vibes from the heel (slingback strap, cutout on the vamp and tiny buckle detailing in addition to the elongated toe, which tapers off into a narrow square), Felloni also pointed out the inevitability of the fashion cycle. “We consider it a little bit 2000s, but I was there in the 2000s, and 2000s was inspired by Vivier, in the ‘50s.”
The Canard archival heel joins the remainder of the spring ‘24 collection, which was divided up into four different pillars of the brand, or “Les Éléments Vivier.” Felloni worked with Italian set designer and La Scala veteran Leila Maria Fteita to transform a hôtel particulier (just next door to its usual Paris Fashion Week location) into four distinct areas.
The first Vivier pillar was color, which Felloni illustrated through a Monet-inspired section that focused on hues found in flowers and nature — color blocked patent leather slingbacks in brights and pastels alike, but also a series of tie-dyed heels and ruched Viv’ Choc bags and raffia slides, bags and hats.
The second was passion, which was translated quite literally into hearts, or the brand’s “I Love Vivier” decolleté heels. Felloni did them in a variety of new ways, from fully crystalized pumps to satin thong sandals outfitted with 3D heart-shaped crystal bows, plus a series of lattice work suede decolleté styles that included a flat (sure to live well in the ballerina story for spring ‘24).
Lightness was Felloni’s third pillar of the Vivier spring story, where a gigantic version of the Viv Canard pump (complete with a leather insoled seat) was on display next to the actual shoe, along with stacked heels (outfitted with a buckle detail on the bottom), puffy, ruched leather bags in Easter egg colors and retro enamel stacked bangles.
Finally, the fourth focus was on preciousness, a segment that allowed the brand to showcase its usual savoir-faire in embellishments. Hanging from a giant chandelier in the presentation space, crystal mules and sequined Mary Janes sparkled next to evening versions of the Canard in satin and crystal buckles.
Here, Felloni also included scaled-down versions of the one-of-a-kind bags from Vivier’s Viv Choc couture collection shown in July; pastel tweeds were decorated with crystal cut in briolettes and round brilliants (no precious materials used this time). The designer continues to add jewelry to the collection, too; this time he took inspiration from his own private collection for pieces in resin and crystal.
The presentation was full of its usual buzz and boldface names, with plenty of foot traffic shuffling up and down the stairs and out back to eat ice cream in the unseasonably warm Paris weather. But this time around, appearances from Cher, Laura Dern, Michelle Yeoh and Carla Bruni, in addition to the ingénues making the usual rounds, was a reminder of Vivier’s weight in the game.
