Cover (Photo: Courtesy of Roger Vivier)
(Photo: Courtesy of Roger Vivier)
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Roger Vivier returns to its roots with Maison Vivier, a restored 18th-century Parisian residence that is about heritage, design and imagination—in timeless French style.
On a quiet stretch of 98 Rue de l’Université on the Rive Gauche, Roger Vivier has found its way home. The new Maison Vivier occupies an 18th-century hôtel particulier—a place where history seeps through every cornice and corridor. Yet within its restored walls, the story feels distinctly modern: a conversation between past and present, between craftsmanship and imagination.
Hôtel particulier are fascinating historical buildings; these are French mansions made in the 17th century for wealthy families, but situated in urban settings. This specific structure, built in 1729 by royal architect Jacques Gilet de la Fontaine, has witnessed three centuries of transformation—it has served as aristocratic salons and 19th-century bourgeois apartments, and has even lived through a period when architect François Avignon added a chapel.
Today, it has been returned to domestic grace through adaptive reuse. The design respects its 18th century roots, yet it is fitted to accommodate the 21st-century needs of the fashion house. Upon entering the main foyer of the building, a sweeping grand staircase greets guests. Rooms open like chapters of a novel, leading to salons, studios and archival rooms.
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Above This 18th-century Hôtel Particulier, in the heart of Saint-German-des-Prés, houses the new headquarters of Maison Vivier; a fine example of adaptive reuse in design. (Photo: Guido Taroni)
Above In Maison Vivier's foyer, a grand staircase is accented by a Baroque-era panel. (Photo: Guido Taroni)
This 18th-century Hôtel Particulier, in the heart of Saint-German-des-Prés, houses the new headquarters of Maison Vivier; a fine example of adaptive reuse in design. (Photo: Guido Taroni)
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A love letter to Roger Vivier
Above Salon de l'Heritage is curated by Roger Vivier muse Inès de la Fressange. The salon is fitted out like a museum, with iconic shoe designs in display cases and steel shelves by Xavier Feal. (Photo: Courtesy of Roger Vivier)
Salon de l'Heritage is curated by Roger Vivier muse Inès de la Fressange. The salon is fitted out like a museum, with iconic shoe designs in display cases and steel shelves by Xavier Feal. (Photo: Courtesy of Roger Vivier)
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The first of its salons, curated by brand ambassador and muse Inès de La Fressange, feels like a love letter to Roger Vivier himself, as she made it a point to incorporate personal touches from the original designer's own home. Mid-century-modern furniture by Mies van der Rohe and steel shelves by Xavier Feal exist easily beside plush Pierre Frey curtains and Vincent Darré carpets. Iconic shoes—the Virgule heel, the Belle Vivier with its gleaming buckle—rest beneath soft museum lighting, their sculptural forms as bold as when they first appeared on the runway.
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Gherardo Felloni’s creative studio
Above Inès De la Fressange made sure to keep the spirit of Roger Vivier’s personal style in Le Salon Vivier. Here, Louis XVI sofas provide classic contrast to modern leather Barcelona chairs by Mies Van der Rohe. A Charles-Henri Monvert painting completes the vignette (Photo: Guido Taroni)
Above In the same salon, Roger Vivier’s colorful shoe collages hang above a lacquered Herve Van der Straeten console table (Photo: Guido Taroni)
Inès De la Fressange made sure to keep the spirit of Roger Vivier’s personal style in Le Salon Vivier. Here, Louis XVI sofas provide classic contrast to modern leather Barcelona chairs by Mies Van der Rohe. A Charles-Henri Monvert painting completes the vignette (Photo: Guido Taroni)
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Elsewhere, Le Salon Vivier evokes the designer’s personal universe: a mix of Regency and Louis XVI pieces offset by Philippe Hiquily’s sinuous armchairs and Agnès Debizet’s lunar ceramics. A pochoir by Picasso, a Chinese cabinet once owned by Hubert de Givenchy, and an oil painting by Charles-Henri Monvert lend the room a sense of cultured eccentricity—the kind of layered taste that feels collected over decades, not styled overnight.
Above In Le Salon Vivier, two Sarfatti accent chairs by Marcello Piacentini flank the marble fireplace (Photo: Courtesy of Roger Vivier)
In Le Salon Vivier, two Sarfatti accent chairs by Marcello Piacentini flank the marble fireplace (Photo: Courtesy of Roger Vivier)
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Upstairs, creative director Gherardo Felloni works in a studio that could only belong to someone who loves objects for their stories. A double-volume-ceiling with traditional dentil moulding add grandiosity to the space, while moss-velvet drapery keeps it cozy and comfortable.
Pink shelving systems frame a Chinese Art Deco rug and a sculptural Duccio Maria Gambi desk. Archival shoe boxes line the shelves like personal relics. A portrait of his dog watches the room. It’s a space less about presentation than presence: where ideas are tried on, much like shoes in the making.
A living archive
Above In Le Studio de Gherardo Felloni, which is Roger Vivier’s creative director’s office, a double-volume ceiling, classic dentil mouldings, and green velvet curtains add to the grandness of the space. An angular desk by Duccio Maria Gambi provides a modern touch (Photo: Guido Taroni)
Above Floor-to-ceiling pink shelves filled with archival shoe boxes and designs line the walls of Felloni's office (Photo: Guido Taroni)
In Le Studio de Gherardo Felloni, which is Roger Vivier’s creative director’s office, a double-volume ceiling, classic dentil mouldings, and green velvet curtains add to the grandness of the space. An angular desk by Duccio Maria Gambi provides a modern touch (Photo: Guido Taroni)
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Perhaps the most evocative room is the Salle des Archives, where more than a thousand creations are kept alongside sketches and photographs. There’s the 1962 prototype made for Princess Soraya, the notes for Queen Elizabeth II’s Coronation shoes and the first Belle Vivier—created for Yves Saint Laurent’s Mondrian collection and forever tied to Catherine Deneuve in Belle de Jour. Here, the air feels almost reverent, as if each heel and buckle holds a fragment of Parisian history.
Above The Salles des Archives, with its vaulted ceiling and steel cabinets, is the location of thousands of archival sources of their shoes alongside photographs and magazine articles, which provide important design inspiration for the house (Photo: Guido Taroni)
The Salles des Archives, with its vaulted ceiling and steel cabinets, is the location of thousands of archival sources of their shoes alongside photographs and magazine articles, which provide important design inspiration for the house (Photo: Guido Taroni)
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Maison Vivier isn’t merely a headquarters. It’s a portrait of the house’s identity expressed through architecture, interiors, fashion, and objects—a place where visitors feel both guest and witness. In a city defined by reinvention, this Left Bank retreat reminds us that true modernity often begins by listening to history.
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Rachelle Medina is an interior designer, writer and content editor for print and web. Formerly the editor in chief of Real Living Philippines, writes about design inspiration, art and culture in everyday life.
