>> Rochas Going Back to Runway for Spring 2010 —After Rochas's first collection since reopening — for Fall 2009 under the hand of Marco Zanini — was so well-received, owner Gibo has decided to bring the label back to the runway. The Fall 2009 collection was presented as an installation at an art gallery in the Marais, and for Spring 2009 — reflecting a huge vote of confidence for the label and Zanini — Rochas will effectively kick off Paris Fashion Week at Musée de l'Homme. [FWD]

>> It was a surprise when Rochas reopened ready-to-wear for Fall 2009, just two years after unceremoniously closing down its fashion brand, leaving only a line of fragrances.  But it turns out those fragrances, moneymakers though they are, are part of the reason the clothes are back — without the fashion, a brand runs the risk of losing relevance.  "Fragrances have only a certain shelf life," says Robert Burke, an investment consultant and former Bergdorf Goodman executive, told The Wall Street Journal. "Fragrances are generally successful when they're connected to a living person."

So far, Marco Zanini's revival of the label has been well-received — Style.com's Nicole Phelps called his first collection for Fall 2009 "a promising start," and WWD ruled, "So far, so good."  But now is not the best time to restart a luxury brand — Christina Binkley of The Wall Street Journal noted that while she was in the Paris showroom for an hour during Fashion Week, she spotted only one buyer looking the collection over.  Ken Downing, fashion director at Neiman Marcus, says he picked up the collection, meanwhile, and named it as one of his favorites from Paris Fashion Week, because it "had great late-day and dinner dressing."

So will it succeed? »

• In addition to Calvin Klein in New York, Prada in Milan, and Balenciaga in Paris, Givenchy has emerged as a fourth major-model-making platform due to the "increasing power of that show and campaign in giving new girls maximum visibility" [The Imagist]


• Thursday's Nina Ricci show "is almost universally agreed to be designer Olivier Theyskens's last collection" for the brand, and with the recent clash of his $15,000 gowns versus the label's commercial branding, will he give in and make retailers happy or go with his heart? [FWD]


• Hotly anticipated, Rose Cordero has only appeared at Burberry so far, but COACD seems to know something we don't . . . [COACD]


• Rochas is relaunching with Marco Zanini in charge; An insider who attended a preview last week "showed much enthusiasm for the line" [FWD]


• Is Balmain the new Balenciaga?  It's Balmania out there: Christophe Decarnin's Spring 2009 glitzy '80s moment permeated Fall 2009 collections from New York to Milan, and his $1,500 jeans are still flying off the shelves, even in this economy [FWD]

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>> INSIDER WIRE —March 5 in Paris, Marco Zanini debuts 200 "soft and feminine" pieces for the new Rochas in his chosen format of presentation.  Management doesn't want the newly-rescuscitated label to be another buzz-generating, status brand like during Olivier Theysken's money-losing tenure, and pricing has been slashed by 30 percent since Theyskens’ days to be on par with Prada.  The Fall 2009 collection is divided among day, cocktail, and evening with plenty of slip-inspired garments; Unlike Theyskens, Zanini chose to go without any long dresses — he feels the short hem is more modern. [WWD]

>> INSIDER WIRE —Marco Zanini, who is busy at work on his first collection for the recently-resurrected Rochas, took some time out to attend the Jil Sander men's show on Saturday in Milan.  He wouldn't give away any hints on his work, only saying that it will span a range of day to eveningwear — which means, just like management wanted, the label won't be anything like when Olivier Theyskens was head designer. [WWD]

>> Olivier Theyskens left a shuttered Rochas with a closet full of delicate gowns in 2006, but now that the house is being resurrected under newly-appointed creative director Marco Zanini, expect anything but more of those gowns.

According to Franco Pene, president of Gibo, the brand's new licensee, the brand will be much more straightforward than in the past: "We’re not looking to generate editorial hype, because we’re thinking of a sensibly priced luxury brand that caters to the everyday needs of women.  In other words, real clothes that are useful and beautiful. Zanini understands that we don’t want to be a status brand."

Pene sees the brand's forte not being in expensive red-carpet gowns like those of Theyskens, but rather in the day-to-day; Zanini was chosen for "his penchant for daywear and the fact that he will be fully dedicated to the line without having to divide his energy with a namesake collection."  Come March 2009, it will be interesting to see how Zanini turns over Rochas' new leaf.
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>> Confirming rumors, Marco Zanini has been named the man for the newly-resurrected house of Rochas. His first collection will show next March in Paris for the Fall 2009 season, with obvious hopes that he will last longer and achieve better critical reception than he did during his two-season stint at Halston, which he left in July.

Zanini put in nine years at Versace before he was tapped to rejevunate Halston in July 2007, making this new appointment his second brand restart in as many years.  Judging by the Versace education and the sleek, simplified look Zanini sent down the runway at Halston, the new Rochas may be quite different than Olivier Theysken's ethereal vision at Rochas when the brand was shuttered back in 2006.  But one thing's for sure — Zanini's Halston designs did well at retail, so there's hope that he can keep Rochas afloat.
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>> Just hours after we learned that Rochas's ready-to-wear department is being opened back up, designer names are already being thrown around to head the comeback.  More specifically one name — Marco Zanini, the designer who just a few months back was ousted from Halston.

Although his role in that brand rejuvenation didn't work out so well, he is currently in talks to design Rochas, since former Rochas designer Olivier Theyskens is happily holed up at Nina Ricci and all.  No confirmation from Rochas's new ready-to-wear producer Gibo just yet, but we're sure to hear something — confirmation or not — sooner rather than later, since they have a collection to get started on for March 2009.
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>> Halston may have stripped itself of a head designer and a red carpet consultant recently, but the absence of Marco Zanini and Rachel Zoe won't keep owner Harvey Weinstein and board member Tamara Mellon from showing a Halston collection during New York Fashion Week.

In fact, it sounds like they're pulling out all the stops — the Spring 2009 collection, started by Marco Zanini and reportedly finished by an in-house team, will be presented at the Museum of Modern Art, a venue that can't be cheap to rent out. With five weeks until the presentation, who knows what could happen between now and then: Harvey Weinstein doesn't seem the type to throw in the towel on an investment.
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