Roger Vivier @ Book Launch Event

 With innate Parisian style, Roger Vivier (1907–1998) elevated the design and embellishment of ladies’ footwear to a high art during his sixty-year career. Vivier’s legendary shoes embodied artistry, wit, and perfection of craftsmanship, and were coveted by style icons from Elsa Schiaparelli, Catherine Deneuve, and Jackie Onassis to Brigitte Bardot, Liz Taylor, Grace Kelly, and Sophia Loren and none other than Queen Elizabeth II, who famously wore Vivier at her coronation in 1953. Described by Yves St. Laurent as bringing to his work a “level of charm, delicacy, refinement and poetry unsurpassed,” Vivier created the first stiletto heel in 1955 for a ready-to-wear shoe collection for the house of Dior, the elegant choc heel and the virgule, or comma heel.

Roger Vivier’s innovative spirit is being carried into the 21^st century by Bruno Frisoni, Creative Director, and Brand Ambassador Ines de la Fressange. Since his appointment in 2003, Frisoni has updated Vivier’s concepts while bringing fresh genius to signature styles including the buckle pump made famous by Catherine Deneuve in the classic film, Belle du Jour, while the exquisite and quintessentially Parisian icon Ines de la Fressange wears Vivier out in the world always with her inimitable elegance and wit. This lavish volume celebrates the history of the venerated house, and charts its evolution from a carriage trade shoe brand to a sophisticated, contemporary Parisian luxury accessories company with global reach.

 Today, it is Frisoni’s shoes from the classics to extravagant fantasy models, handbags, and coveted limited-edition styles that make Roger Vivier a constant presence on the red carpet, and keep the brand at the top of every well-dressed woman’s wish list including Carla Bruni, Cate Blanchett, Naomi Watts, Anne Hathaway, Rachel Weisz, Nicole Kidman, Sarah Jessica Parker, Julia Roberts, Gwen Stefani and, of course, Brand Ambassador Ines de la Fressange, among many other famously stylish women. With gorgeous new photography of the house’s collection of vintage shoes, beautifully rendered sketches, and details of the remarkable designs coming out of Roger Vivier today, this book is as chic as the accessories that fill its pages. With essays by Olivier Saillard, Virginie Mouzat, Loïc Prigent, Colombe Pringle and Elisabeth Sammelhack, and conversations between Ines de la Fressange and Catherine Deneuve, Bruno Frisoni and Cate Blanchett, Roger Vivier is a dynamic tribute to a much-coveted brand that will be a must this season for anyone with a love of fashion and especially of exquisite accessories.