Roger Vivier’s Gherardo Felloni Goes Optical for Fall 2024

PARIS — In keeping with its Paris Fashion Week tradition, the Roger Vivier presentation here Thursday was a busy affair that drew boldface names and the fashion pack to the neoclassical halls of the Maison de l’Amérique Latine location on the city’s Left Bank. 

Appearances by the likes of Eva Green, Naomie Harris, Jerry Hall, Georgia May Jagger, Catherine Deneuve, Paris Jackson, Naomi Campbell and Kelly Rutherford signaled the growing popularity the Tod’s Group’s brand has with celebrities and the way creative director Gherardo Felloni’s designs appeal to different types of women.

Felloni put together another scenic showcase this season, inspired by the Op Art movement as black-and-white patterns and psychedelic geometries took over the different rooms that displayed his fall 2024 collection. In sync with the reference, Felloni’s latest styles embraced all things optical, nodding to founder Roger Vivier’s most graphic designs from the ‘60s.

“It’s a part of the archive that I’ve never explored so much, and I thought it was the right moment,” said Felloni, all dressed in black himself, with his signature floral jewelry sparkling from his neck. He underscored that decade marked a pivotal moment for the brand, with the founder’s aesthetic shifting toward a more sleek design approach with introductions like the famed Belle Vivier shoes and its hallmark metal buckle. Worn by Deneuve in the ‘60s classic film “Belle de Jour,” it remains one of the most popular styles with the brand’s customers.

“It’s when fashion really changed again and Vivier’s archives are full of this black-and-white theme. He was obsessed also with the zebra print and the graphic squared-toe shape,” continued Felloni, also pointing to the historic relevance the ‘60s had culturally, especially for the female empowerment movement.

“But probably I arrived at this inspiration now because I feel that we need elegant and beautiful things. Not just sneakers or masculine shoes. So this kind of proportion makes things comfortable but glamorous at the same time,” he said about the way he reinterpreted the Belle Vivier style via striking stripes. 

The result was the hero of the collection. Rendered in black and white or in combinations of black with pastel hues like pink, yellow and pistachio, the shoe combined ease with eccentricity, with its chunky kitten heel also available in mismatched colors. 

“It’s not the first time I’m trying to do graphic things,” Felloni said. “But it was the right moment now…also because there’s this kind of super bourgeois trend, that quiet luxury that sincerely doesn’t speak to me and I don’t understand, because to me [it] means nothing. I just asked myself: ‘How I can do something super chic, super conservative, super glamorous and super innovative at the same time?’”

While other takes on the Belle Vivier style came with an even bolder look — including Mondrian-like color bloc versions — the optical theme was also explored via the zebra pattern Vivier was fond of. Cue hard-to-miss over-the-knee zebra boots with the omnipresent squared buckle and fitting in with the low-heeled vibe that has been trending on the runways and in the showrooms this season. 

Felloni focused mostly on squared-toe designs, save for the duckbill shape of the ‘60s Viv Canard slingback that he revisited and introduced in September. Its tiny buckle detailing and elongated toe were here turned into a black-and-white kitten-heeled version as well as into zebra patterned ballerina flats. 

Felloni has been pulling style references from Vivier’s vast archives ever since he joined the brand in 2018, but he also poured his personality into collections, always respectful of the brand’s codes. Even if leaning toward a more flamboyant attitude, Felloni isn’t immune to the charm of geometries himself.

“If you come to my place, there’s a big Victor Vasarely painting in my living room. He was a genius, and there was a moment in my life I was obsessed about it. So I like this kind of Op Art,” he said.

He must have looked at the Hungarian French artist’s 1937 work “Zebra” in envisioning the monumental sculpture of the animal that stood out in the main hall on the first floor. Here, Felloni displayed some accessories he introduced as a counterpart to the more graphic footwear designs and which had more of a ‘70s vibe via fringes and monochrome suede styles in black, brown, military green and purple hues.

Elsewhere, the collection encompassed low-heeled cuissardes boots covered in gold or silver sequins and disco-ready, round-toed velvet ballerina flats trimmed with pearls and sparkly mary janes punctuated with crystals. 

Handbags, millinery, waistcoats and jewelry rounded out the offering, which are becoming increasingly important product categories for the brand and an additional space for Felloni to express his creativity.

“Of course for the jewels, I get inspired by my own. I have a lot of flower pieces, diamond daisies of the late 19th century,” he said, pointing to the brand’s new chunky floral necklaces, earrings and even headbands crafted by hand, lacquered in black and white and encrusted with crystals. 

“The vest for us is more like an accessory for the body,” he continued about the designs, which were embellished with metal studs and suede fringes. “And as for bags, we’re growing so much there,” Felloni said. Cue the popular Viv’ Choc handbag, which had new iterations in leather and tweed that respected the overall seasonal theme with graphic motifs and radial stripes. 

During the Paris couture in January, Felloni also presented his sophomore collection of the Pièce Unique designs, showcasing 12 one-of-a-kind bags inspired by flowers, which are intended to celebrate the height of French craftsmanship.