WELCOME TO RIO DE JANEIRO! A STRONG AND SCULPTURAL COLLECTION IN WHICH STEAMY DRESSES FOLLOW SILHOUETTES RICHLY ADORNED WITH GOLD.
For his Haute Couture collection, Spring/Summer 2023, presented at the Palais de Chaillot, the French designer Stephane Rolland, takes us in total immersion in the Amazon.
In a stylistic scenario divided into three acts, Stephane Rolland dives back into the ancient myth of Orpheus and Eurydice and delivers a contemporary reinterpretation, in a nod to Orfeu Negro, the feature film by French filmmaker Marcel Camus describing Brazil in the 1950s.
“I started to build the story in three parts. The first is Rio in the ’70s — architecture, the modernity of the structure,” said Rolland, explaining the second section refers to Brazil’s Amazonian roots, and the Indigenous people from the rainforest. “There are sculptures on the dresses in lacquered form, in solid form, and there are many new techniques. Everything is 3D, and it’s very strong.”
The third part harkens back to more of Brazil’s history — the conquistadors, and their gold and other treasures. The sumptuousness of the church in Bahia inspired Rolland, as well.
“I wanted the final part of the show to be really rich, but [also] modern and sexy,” he continued.
A collection featuring daring volumes on the dresses and jumpsuits, with large hoods slung in the air and oversized shoulders, transforming a coffee-colored jumpsuit into a graceful butterfly evolving on the catwalk.
An immaculate poncho, like an iridescent veil, with a sculpture on the left shoulder opens the ball, on notes of Antonio Carlos Jobìm on the guitar. This is followed by “column” dresses, sometimes asymmetrical sheaths, in crepe and white gazar, whose purity is punctuated by precious stones and oversized golden bracelets. With ebony cuffs and giant rings, the woman dressed in these “totem dresses” is as if deified.
For the closing look, In the image of the Black Virgin of Aparecida – the patron saint of Brazil – the bride is dressed in a cape with ample volumes, in gold lamé cloqué gazar, entirely decorated with “Marajoara” sculptures. These symbols pay tribute to this pre-Columbian civilization that lived on the banks of the Amazon River.
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