Dubbed the “Designer for the Young” by French Vogue, Marcel Rochas was known as much for his couture designs as his love of sports, travel, and cinema, and well, he was literally the youngest designer of that time. Growing up in the ‘80s and ‘90s, I remember Rochas as a perfume worn by glamorous aunties. But well-rounded Marcel was so much more than the creator of a covetable fragrance. He was actually was the inventor of not only the mermaid gown silhouette (copied to this day, seen as recently as Sunday night on the red carpet of the SAG Awards) but the wasp corset to boot.
Now under Marco Zanini’s direction, the brand has finally found firm footing yet again, grounding itself with as much strength as it possessed in its pre-war heyday. With this new crop of bags, I’m excited about Rochas all over again! Thought you seen every take on the chain-handled bag under the sun? These have a slight bad-girl edge – without abandoning their grownup attitude. Animal-print pony-hair is luxe yet sporty when it’s this graphic and the elegantly off-kilter asymmetric foldover clutch is subtle yet distinctive. But it’s the club-striped clutch that seems to capture the spirit for which Marcel Rochas was most renowned.
