Firm footing

Bejewelled buckles on shoes might once have brought to mind royal portraits from the 17th century but in today’s fashion industry they call forth one name only: Roger Vivier. The Parisian maison has perfected the twinkle of its shoes since it was founded by the French designer in 1937. Vivier pushed the boundaries of footwear, partnering with Christian Dior to develop his New Look silhouette and providing pumps for Catherine Deneuve in 1967 erotic psychodrama Belle de Jour. When the designer died in 1998, he left behind a maison and a legacy that still evoke glamour.

In 2015 the house was bought by Italian holding company Tod’s Group for €415m. And Italian designer Gherardo Felloni was installed as creative director in 2018 – very successfully, as it turns out. Last year, overall revenue increased by 16.5 per cent to €286.7m.

“I’ve always looked to Roger Vivier as a reference for my own career,” Felloni tells monocle. “He was an inventor, a genius.” He is wearing one of his go-to outfits: a crisp shirt and a simple navy cardigan accentuated with an antique gold necklace, dripping with pearls. “Vivier designed for the contemporary women of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. That’s why one of the first shoes I designed for Roger Vivier was a trainer. Women today want to be comfortable. Sometimes I joke that Vivier, if he were alive today, would have worked on trainers. So I did it for him.”

Felloni had previously worked in the accessories and footwear departments of labels including Fendi, Dior, Miu Miu and Prada. But, for him, being appointed the creative director of a house with a visionary founder is somewhat akin to entering into dialogue with someone beyond the grave. Shared passions such as gardening, jewellery and a playful approach to design facilitates that conversation. “I never knew Vivier but from the archive you can tell that he didn’t take himself too seriously,” says Felloni. “He wanted to make fashion contemporary and light. And I believe that fashion is a moment for creativity but also for the clients to have fun.”

Growing up in Tuscany, Felloni considered a career in opera, cinema or architecture. But the calling came from closer to home: his father and uncle ran the family shoe factory, where he spent his childhood learning about the complexities of shoe construction. “Shoes aren’t like a bag or a dress: the form needs to support the foot so you can walk,” he says. “The technical part of my job is important to me.” This early exposure to manufacturing also instilled in him a reverence for craft from an early age. Now, at Roger Vivier, Felloni works with the house’s atelier to develop new designs but also to reiterate and update shoes that he finds in the archive.

His aim is to communicate the savoir-faire and rarity of the maison to customers through opulent salon-style presentations of not only shoes but accessories including bags, belts and headbands. For the house’s campaigns, Felloni has tapped actors including Deneuve, Isabella Rossellini, Laura Dern and, most recently, Eva Green as brand ambassadors. “The women I’m obsessed with all have confidence in common,” he says. “When you’re confident, you can wear whatever you want. You don’t think about other people’s opinions. You’re free. That is what inspires me.” — L