Gherardo Felloni, creative director of Parisian luxury-accessories house Roger Vivier, joins Monocle’s associate editor Grace Charlton to discuss the brand’s spring-summer 2025 collection. Felloni tells us about his vision for the brand, reissuing some of the most iconic buckled shoes to have walked this earth and updating house codes for the modern woman. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Hello and welcome to the big interview.
Our guest this week is Garado Filoni, the creative director of Paris based luxury fashion house Roger Vivier.
Since starting the role in 2018, Filoni has brought his vast and unique experience in the world of fashion, working for houses including Dior, Miu Miu and Prada to the luxury accessories maison.
He has also modernized the brand with some sneakers, for example, the Viv Run.
Born in Tuscany, Filoni has already spent a lifetime living and working with shoes and accessories in his family atelier.
While he originally planned to be an architect, his father encouraged him to apply his creative lens to shoes.
As a designer, Filoni draws inspirations from his own personal passion for the arts.
Whether that's exploring interior design, collecting antique jewelry or singing opera as a tenor.
I'm Grace Charlton and I spoke to Gerardo Filoni for the big interview ahead of him showing The Jardin & L'Avivier Spring Summer 2025 Pret a Porter collection in Paris.
Why did you decide to foray into couture and show as part of Paris Couture Week?
Yeah, so I really believe that Roger Vivier it's a really special houses, it's a really special brand.
Roger Vivier himself participated to this golden area in Paris where the silhouette of women change on history of fashion.
I really believe that, you know, this kind of, for example, the new look of Dior, there's this 20% that it's made by the shoes of Roger Vivier.
Without this kind of shoes, you cannot have this silhouette.
And all this process of this amazing work that Rajiv done was made during haute couture area, you know.
And so I think that couture, it's a moment that for Rajiv it could be important and can help me to communicate something that it's related to the savoir faire, to this kind of artisans that are behind my ideas.
Because if I have a really beautiful idea and I don't have this kind of artisan and savoir faire behind as for many designers is impossible to realize something beautiful.
And Roger Vivier, it's a rare maison, it's a rare brand, it's disturbed.
Roger Vivier needs to explain to the audience this kind of sub affair that they have.
And I particularly decide to work on bags and not on shoes because first, because it's most more difficult, you know, because our Viv shop bag, it's like drape bag, it's puffy bag, it's really complicated and it's like a Couture dress, in a way, but it's in leather.