About a year into his heritage reboot, Alessandro Vigilante is still finding his foothold, but his confidence is growing. Inspired by “driven dreamers,” as he described the new-gen Rochas woman, the pre-fall collection was about “finding power in everyday fantasy.”
“She’s a real woman who follows her passion yet doesn’t take herself too seriously,” he offered over Zoom. “She’s a free spirit with a strong personality who doesn’t follow trends. She collects beautiful things and dresses with joy.”
That’s one way to view this magpie lookbook, which was shot in a private apartment in Milan. Embracing uber-femininity leavened with a dash of masculinity, the designer came up with a lashing of floral brocade, lace and chevron jacquard (and that was just one look) and amped up bows, voluminously, at the waist, or as a contrasting detail at the hem of a red skirt. Leopard, too, was back.
That particular motif reflected a change of heart: back when Vigilante was cutting his teeth in the studio at Dolce & Gabbana, it wasn’t one of his favorites. But now that he’s been able to develop his own, in slightly stretchy tweed jacquard and in the shades of cream, brown and terracotta found throughout this collection, he said he’s fallen in love with it again; the fabric is also very soft to the touch, he noted. He used it to revisit the pea coat, giving it rounded sleeves, graphic cuff details, and a detachable scarf (that piece also comes in a solid red version). “It’s unconventional, very fluid, almost like a shirt, but it’s a very comfortable jacket that keeps its line,” he said. Additional iterations came in lilac floral brocade, or in black wool, shown here cinched with a belt.
Vigilante’s love of playing with volume is clear: a voluminous lavaliere blouse produces different effects depending on whether it’s made of ecru satin or terracotta poplin. What a big bow lacks in practicality, it makes up for with drama. The designer tweaked Rochas signatures by revisiting the slip dress in a bias-cut pin stripe edged with lace (styled here over a red crepe de chine skirt) and giving knitwear the lingerie treatment, a clear reference to his life as a professional dancer. If the styling could have used a bit of parsing, some of the bread-and-butter pieces—what pre-fall is all about—showed promise. As Vigilante himself allowed, “It’s a work in progress every time.”