Celebrity Life

Do you know what it feels like when something sparks joy within you? If not, then a good place to hone that feeling would be at Hotel Vivier, the universe imagined by Roger Vivier’s newest creative director, Gherardo Felloni. Only the third designer to head the footwear maison that’s created shoes for the likes of Catherine Deneuve, Queen Elizabeth II and Christian Dior, the task would be a daunting one for anybody -- but Felloni is approaching his enormous responsibilities with a cheerful, even easy, mien.

“It was always a dream of mine to work for Roger Vivier,” Felloni says as he sips an Americano on the patio at Sevva, having arrived in Hong Kong from Paris the previous afternoon. “He’s always been my reference. I never met him, but the lightness, the colours, the femininity, I think those elements have always been things that attracted me to the house. And I think he was a happy person. When you see the shoes he made, you feel that he had a sense of humour, which I feel is something we both share. We were both architects before we were designers, so that’s also a link. In life, when you really love your career, there’s always a touch of coincidence that will bring you there.”

What brings Felloni to Hong Kong is Hotel Vivier, a fanciful set created to anchor his vision for the house. First introduced in Paris during Fashion Week, his vision was expressed in a private maison just off Jardin du Luxembourg. Set over three opulently appointed storeys, it was a glimpse into a world of whimsy and quirkiness that might become hallmarks of his tenure at Vivier.

In Hong Kong, this is confirmed. The concept is brought to China Tang, whose restaurant is divided into four rooms,each with a Chinese twist on an escapist fantasy. Guests walk past the reception desk, where the shelves that usually hold keys display a Très Vivier shoe in each cubbyhole. A stroll down a corridor reveals rooms occupied by a master calligrapher, two singers of Cantonese opera, a lady in a qipao surrounded by peonies in full bloom, and a brooding Chinese damsel reclining on a bed that looks as though it has been pulled out of Wong Kar-wai’s In the Mood for Love. On set are buckles, feathers, strass -- all key tenets of the house of Vivier, but used by Felloni in ways that are just a smidge more decadent than his predecessors.

[caption id="attachment_128772" align="alignnone" width="4928"] Hotel Vivier's front desk in Paris.[/caption]

“Hotel Vivier was a format that I invented for Vivier because it was necessary for me not to do something static, something boring,” Felloni explains. “I worked 10, almost 20 years in brands that made ready-to-wear, where they did shows, created campaigns – I was always involved in a process that cannot go on if you don’t have a silhouette. And the shoes would complete that silhouette.

“At Vivier, we don’t have ready-to-wear, so I thought it was necessary for me to explain my imagination of Roger Vivier using actresses and having an interactive place.”

Using actresses was a conscious decision because Felloni wanted a sense of legitimate interaction, something he achieved in both Paris and Hong Kong. “A model is not an actress, so you can’t ask her to act or sing because it’s going to be a mess,” he says. “I really liked the idea of having real women who can do something and interact with people because, for me, it was really important that everyone interact. I’m a happy person and I hate being bored or when things are boring. I can’t stand it. But this is basically a way for me to explain my vision interactively. It’s a fake place but everybody goes to a hotel and everybody leaves. So, it’s like, a place for everyone, like the store. It’s imaginary but in a way it’s also very real.”

The hotel is an appropriate modern update to Roger Vivier’s more bourgeois beginnings, particularly after Catherine Deneuve wore the buckled shoesin the classic 1967 Buñuel film Belle de Jour. Felloni seized on this and invited Deneuve toparticipate in a mini film he created called Duo des Chats.