Last week his LinkedIn page blanked out the name of his new appointment, but tonight in Paris, FN can exclusively reveal that Roger Vivier‘s new creative director is Gherardo Felloni.
“Roger Vivier is the absolute reference of luxury shoes. I have always been fascinated by [the eponymous house founder] and its master of modernity, its ultimate chic and its endless creativity,” Felloni said in a statement. “I feel honored to be part of Roger Vivier today and develop it further, respecting its heritage and tradition while adding a contemporary and modern take, something Mr. Vivier has always demonstrated.”
Felloni joins the Parisian house from Miu Miu, where he headed up footwear, leather goods and costume jewelry. He was previously shoe design director at Christian Dior, working with both John Galliano and Raf Simons. The designer, who started his career interning at Prada, has footwear in his blood, and his formative years were spent learning the ropes at his father’s shoe factory in Arezzo, Italy. Although he initially wanted to be an architect, blood soon proved thicker than water.
Anyone anticipating a “name” designer to be appointed need only look at the Gucci model. As evinced by the Italian’s label’s meteoric ascent under Alessandro Michele, a relative unknown at time of hire, it pays for a brand to think outside the box.
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Felloni, a true renaissance man, is indeed an exciting signing. The art and antique jewelry-collecting, amateur opera-singing Italian has quite the look, teaming sportswear inspired pieces with jeweled collars from his own collection. He also wears a mustache extremely well.
So what will the Parisian house look like with Felloni at the helm? All will be revealed in September. His first Roger Vivier collection will be spring 2019.
