Roger Vivier’s Gherardo Felloni Takes Inspiration From Insects

BUSY BEE: From the flowers in the garden that inspired his previous collection to the insects that pollinate them, there was but one step for Roger Vivier creative director Gherardo Felloni, a keen gardener in his spare time. For his Pièce Unique range of one-off clutches and vests this season, the designer celebrated arthropods — butterflies, bees, spiders and beetles, to name but a few — in his “Petites Merveilles” collection (for “Little Marvels” in English).

“Insects do some of the most important jobs in nature,” he explained to WWD. “Bees pollinate, ladybugs save plants by eating parasites.”

He compared this to the meticulous work of the artisans working on his “gesamtkunstwerk” designs with metal workers, embroiderers and plumassiers among the multiple craftspeople involved in each elaborate three-dimensional creation. “They make it possible, the work is really hard, and it’s fundamental,” he said of the techniques used for the designs, which bridge fine jewelry and couture techniques and necessitate a multitude of steps from sketch to finished product. The creation of the 15 Viv’ Choc clutches and four gilets in the collection took around six months in total.

Designs inspired by dew drops on a spider’s web were hand beaded and crocheted and overlayed in situ with a silvery chainmail, then adorned with tear drop pearls or crystals. A design inspired by a beehive featured a hand-hammered gold metal honeycomb and miniature workers hovering, its buckle inlaid with stones in different hues. The iridescence of a scarab beetle’s back — symbolic in many cultures — inspired the Nefertiti model, embroidered with polychromatic crystals, rhinestones and sequins. Another piece was humming with a cluster of trembling beaded ladybugs, said to bring luck when seen in numbers. Butterflies inspired a padded design embroidered with hundreds of black and blue rhinestones with beaded crochet edging or fluttering creations adorned with hand-painted feathers, and scorpions and fireflies lent their shapes to further designs.

For the occasion, the Salle d’Argent of the brand’s Parisian boutique was transformed into a cabinet of curiosities, with velvet walls and presentation drawers lined with talismanic gilded representations of a variety of critters to offset the designs, nodding to Felloni’s love of vintage jewelry.