Parade dedicated to Barbara | Stéphane Rolland moves with his haute couture dresses

(Paris) And the curtain opens… on the hall: it was at the Théâtre du Châtelet, where Barbara gave her last concert, that fashion designer Stéphane Rolland organized his moving haute couture fashion show dedicated to the singer on Tuesday.

The podium is black and white like piano keys, where poppy red dresses burst like the light from the stage.

In a short video preceding the parade, the singer tells how she feels before the curtain opens, repeats one of the songs…

Valérie Lemercier, who knew Barbara and wore a dress by Stéphane Rolland to receive her César for best actress for the film Aline this year, compares in a brief speech the perfectionism of one and the other.

“Since I was a child, I have loved Barbara, an exceptional artist. She is captivating, fascinating, as a character. Unconsciously, it is part of my references when I draw,” the designer told AFP.

A fashion icon, the singer who died 25 years ago had a very recognizable style, but in this show, the couturier’s idea is not to “copy and paste”. He wants to tell his temperament between finesse and the “animal, wild and instinctive” side.

Dresses “that shelter”

It is above all the emotion of an artist, in the dark, before exposing himself to the judgment of the room that crosses the parade.

“I wanted to bring the experience to the guests, in the same place as Barbara was”.

Stéphane Rolland’s favorite model, the Spaniard Nieves Alvarez, in a short jumpsuit and thigh-high boots hidden under a large black coat, sets the tone by opening the show.

She is also the one who closes it in a red dress — all volume, all flame — before the curtain opens on the empty room of the theatre, letting the spectators discover that the black cube where they watched the parade was in makes the scene.

“This staging is sublime like these three colors”, including “the red which can be terrible and, there, it is the most beautiful of the reds because it is a little orange”, declares to AFP Valérie Lemercier , dressed in a top and wide black sequined pants, backstage at the show.

While filming a film where she is “not at all glamorous”, she freed herself for the parade to pay tribute to Barbara, at the Châtelet theater – where she has already performed – and to Stéphane Rolland, who “brought her luck” with the black velvet dress with big sleeves that he had made for her for the Césars.

Dancer and “tribal” woman

On the catwalk, asymmetrical dresses with impressive volumes rub shoulders with sleek, seemingly simple pieces such as the black velvet jumpsuit.

“I want folds that cannot be made in velvet. There are several layers of organza inside,” describes Stéphane Rolland.

“Haute couture is also about purity, technique, all the interior finishes, the fitting… Everything that is hidden is even more precious than everything that is shown,” he adds.

The movement of the trains pays homage to Barbara’s body language. The choreographer Maurice Béjart said that “she was his best dancer, whereas basically, she is not a dancer”, says the couturier.

Part of the collection is inspired by Africa with “scarifications” reproduced on dresses, rows of bracelets that are sculpted in foam and sheathed in jersey, Maasai necklaces…

“Iconic French singer and tribal woman, the two go well together at Barbara. The wanted to take the essence, decline it and sometimes even go elsewhere,” concludes Stéphane Rolland.