Rochas RTW Spring 2019
It’s been a busy season for Alessandro Dell’Acqua: In addition to presenting his collection for No. 21 in Milan, he unveiled a collaboration with Tod’s during Paris Fashion Week. “I’m a little tired,” he conceded backstage before his show for Rochas, held in the sunlit foyer of the Théatre National de Chaillot opposite the Eiffel Tower.
To say that he kept it simple this season would be to do him a disservice. There was nothing simple about the couture-quality fabrics he deployed, which ranged from rippling silk duchesse to lustrous velvet, painstakingly stitched with thousands of ostrich feathers.
Dell’Acqua got them from French suppliers who worked for big Paris houses like Givenchy and Yves Saint Laurent in the Seventies. “For the warped leopard print, we did some tests and we managed to make it with taffeta, using looms that had been left a little idle,” he explained.
Rather, he let the fabrics do the talking. Rather than emulate those legendary designers with retro couture silhouettes, dell’Acqua went for loose, boxy cuts, whether on a crinkled, taffeta buttonless coat in a mouthwatering shade of peach, or on a double-breasted pant suit in his signature powder pink.
The designer added a dash of drama with chutes of fabric cascading over one hip: a panel embroidered with ostrich feathers on black silk pants, worn with a silky tank top and elbow-length gloves, or an apron-like layer sprouting from the side of a pale-pink duchesse satin dress with a sensual open back.
“The body is very free — it’s never constrained,” he noted. The frou-frou feathers and sorbet colors telegraphed traditional boudoir codes, but there was a toughness there, too, most apparent in a sequence of black outfits that had a film noir veneer. When you’ve got a good story to tell, you can skip the frills.
Launch Gallery: Rochas RTW Spring 2019
Related stories
Tod's Unveils Capsule Collection With Alessandro Dell'Acqua
Milan Fashion Week Spring 2019: The Trends
For Diego Della Valle, There's No Place Like Home
Get more from WWD: Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Newsletter
Solve the daily Crossword
