Now steeped in Rocha history, Vigilante had never before entertained the idea of working for a Parisian house. “It’s exciting when something unexpected happens,” he says. “For 16 years I have translated the vision of other creative directors; now I really have to speak in my own voice. As a dancer, everything revolves around the body and the movement. It’s not just about making fashion that has to be ‘wow’, it’s about making clothes that make you feel stronger, more powerful and more confident, because you feel really good in them.”
The designer, who turns 41 on December 23, quit dancing at the age of 23 to go to fashion school. But its lessons are key to repositioning Rochas in the current landscape, he said. The stylistic tension between Pina Bausch and Merce Cunningham (both of whose techniques he studied) provides a constant source of inspiration. This also applies to the work of Jiří Kylián, and to the ‘movement language’ called the Gaga technique.
“Contemporary dance is open to everyone, of all sizes, for what you want to say and for creating new languages. And that’s what I would like to do,” Vigilante said. But he also does not want to lose sight of the archives. “Being able to touch these pieces is like opening the door to Marcel’s first studio, it gives me goosebumps,” he said, lifting a pink tulle and black lace guêpière with a wasp waist from tissue paper. “You discover the fabrics, sketches, the smell. You see the side that was really iconic for him, that I would like to renew in my own way. Lace can be intimate, feminine and not overtly erotic. So it is also a challenge.”
Other hallmarks of the house include the mermaid dress, three-quarter length gowns, pajama-style resort wear and, most famously, the surreal Oiseau (bird) dress from 1934, a long black evening dress with a giant white seagull draped around the neck. . There is also the memory of the three women of Rochas: Yvonne, Rina and the glamorous, much younger Helene, who became CEO of Rochas and was a social presence in Paris and on the Riviera. And there is the work of predecessors he knows and admires, such as Theyskens, Dell’Acqua and Marco Zanini.
“I would like to convey the femininity and the delicacy of them, but I think there are so many of Marcel that would be suitable for this moment, but not in a vintage or nostalgic way, a more wearable way,” Vigilante offered, while they include some ideas for feathers (but not real ones), mermaid hemlines (but in different proportions), stripes and ‘lots of trousers’.
