Meet Gianvito Rossi
“Basic chic. The allure of absolute white. The purity of a straight line. The geometry of a precise design. The GIANVITO ROSSI Spring-Summer 2011 collection interprets bourgeois atmospheres, moving back and forth between seventies accents and decisive touches of eighties-style sensuality. Like the two faces and souls of the same world, these little masterpieces express subtle elegance and reveal surprising hidden details that will astound you with every step.”
Via Vogue.com, Coccodrillo offers a little insight into the world of Gianvito Rossi, one of our lesser-known stars with a prestigious pedigree.
MEET GIANVITO ROSSI
Hard to believe, I know, but the most radical thing that can be done to a shoe right now is . . . absolutely nothing. No zippers snaking everywhere. No buckles unless they are functional. And definitely no junked-up jeweling that looks like someone has gone berserk with a Bedazzler. That’s certainly what Gianvito Rossi, son of shoe scion SERGIO ROSSI, believes.
“My idea has been to make shoes with as few ornamental effects as possible,” Rossi said this Tuesday at his presentation at the Crosby Street Hotel in New York’s SoHo. “It’s also about bringing the shoe back as an accessory—and not as an object that takes all the attention.”
If you haven’t heard of Rossi until you started reading this, then that’s because he hasn’t been making shoes that can be heard over the din of all those statement-making footwear that always looked like something Frankenstein’s monster would wear if he needed a little something for a night at the Jane. But that’s all about to change—and not just because he has been collaborating with New York wunderkind Joseph Altuzarra these past two seasons. Rossi’s shoes—ankle-length or knee-high lace-up summer boots in suede or stretch silk; elegant, understated kitten heel (yep, they’re back; thank you, Mrs. O) pointy pumps in a grosgrain called caneté—are some of the most convincing examples of spring’s tendency toward shoes that are simple, and simply chic. And while they’re not loud, it’s true, sometimes the easiest way to make a statement is to do it ever so very quietly.
By Mark Holgate for Vogue.com