Couturier Stéphane Rolland launched his debut film, L’Echappée, ahead of the reveal of his Fall 2014 presentation to several hundred spectators at a private cinema in Paris during Haute Couture Fashion Week. The striking Spanish model Nieves Alvarez (notably, a muse of the late Yves Saint Laurent) takes center stage as she demurely saunters through Paris, with her haute couture wardrobe enticing Jalil Lespert (Writer and Director of the 2014 release, Yves Saint Laurent) along the way.
“During the ‘70s and ‘80s, there was a lot of money in Paris,” Rolland explained to Style.com/Arabia, at his Georges V showroom just off the Seine river. “You cannot imagine the glamour of this city at that time. Women were in the street with their jewels, wearing their fur…I went to Chez Régine, Palace, all the clubs—and there were these women dancing on tables alongside Grace Jones. With this film and this collection, I wanted to aesthetically reproduce this person.”
While producing an Haute Couture collection is grueling enough, Rolland enjoyed the challenge of producing 20 couture looks and then overseeing the shoot of a short film in record time. “I don’t have Chanel’s budgets with 50 people to do everything for me. But I did have Diane Sagnier (Director and Writer) and the best production team (Quad Productions). I’m learning every day.”
Scanning the couture dresses behind Rolland, our thoughts once again turn to Alvarez’ confident character in the film—the designer seems to read our mind and smiles. “It’s not that she loves herself—it’s that she just doesn’t care!”
Watch Stéphane Rolland’s debut film, L’Echappée here.
