Rochas: Federico Curradi debuts with grace and a soupçon of decadence

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Jan 16, 2020

Fashion loves nothing more than a catwalk debut, and a major one this season was the first runway show by Federico Curradi for the house of Rochas.

The show also marked the runway debut of Rochas menswear after a multi-year hiatus. Curradi joins a long list of critically acclaimed designers who have worked for Rochas, including Olivier Theyskens, Marco Zaninni and Alessandro DellʼAqua, the creative director of womenswear who quit the house in December of last year. Curradiʼs previous two collections for Rochas were unveiled in presentations. This event felt more like the acid test.
 
Curradi, an earthy son of the Tuscan soil, has an innate ability to develop clothes that make a guy feel self-assured. You sensed that from the confident manner in which his careful casting of romantic-looking models marched.

There was nothing revolutionary about this collection, nor should there have been. Founded in 1925 by Marcel Rochas, the label has been known for its strict  architectural cut and restrained colors. Just like this collection, blessed with impeccably cut worsted wool redingotes, flowing jute dusters and a couple of sensational Crombie’s – exactly in length favored by the founder of this house. All the way to the poet-maudit chic of the final modern fracks and tails.
 
Everything showered with tiny golden pins, leaves, necklaces and miniature chains. Seen on shoulders, cuffs and on many of a great series raffish hats – from gaucho to balladeer.
 
Staged almost casually in the beautiful Louis XV-style Paris mansion of the Hôtel de Béhague, a famed salon of the Belle Époque where Paul Valery, Marcel Proust and Auguste Rodin congregated in the lime green and gold neo-rococo Salon d'Or.

˝Elegant, nocturnal and just a little decadent,˝ opined the Florence-based Curradi after his accomplished debut.
 
Formerly owned by Procter & Gamble, Rochas was acquired by Interparfums in 2015. And the newer owners are obviously ambitious to make ground in menswear. This show felt like an important step in that direction.