Yahoo Lifestyle Dressing to the Nines 24/7 at Rochas for Spring 2025
When was the last time you saw a man looking smart at the beach in a tailored suit, or a crisp safari jacket?
Chances are a smartphone never captured such a lewk. Luckily, Alessandro Vigilante, creative director of ready-to-wear at Rochas, found such a photo in the archive of founder Marcel Rochas impeccably turned out on the Côte d’Azur in the 1940s, and it got his creative juices going.
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“Elegance all the time, and everywhere — also at the beach,” he said backstage after the first of his mini shows on the stage of the Théâtre du Châtelet, where he erected two whitewashed beach cabins with a small boardwalk flanked by sand.
Models strolled out in the kind of romantic, colorful, puff-sleeved ensembles you would be more likely to spot in the lobby theater on opera night. Some doffed their slingbacks to stroll barefoot on the tiny indoor beach.
It was a charming presentation, and underscored Vigilante’s character-by-character approach to design, and his penchant for fancy fabrics, feminine details and couture flourishes.
You’d have to squint really hard to notice the sand castles, mermaids and seashells woven in the beige brocade the designer employed for boyish shorts, but you picked up on his playful, retro-tinged approach to dressing to the nines for a summer idyll.
Vigilante said shell shapes inspired the rounded tops and generous sleeves, woven fishnets, the handwoven fringe on some wispy lace dresses, and sea sponges a sculptural top and skirt.
Eccentric glamour might be the best way to describe the vibe taking shape at Rochas, with colorful blazers and neat safari jackets among gateway options to full-time elegance.
For more Paris spring 2025 reviews, click here.
Launch Gallery: Rochas Spring 2025 Ready-to-Wear Collection
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