Every season I cover one-two fashion week cities, and this season I decided to cover Paris Fashion Week. For the first two days, I skipped shows as I was invited by Rochas alongside TV presenter, Diala Makki and Luxury consultant,  Rosemin Manji for the brand experience. Rochas is one of the most iconic Parisian, as well as the oldest (started up in 1925) Fashion houses. The brand was relaunched in 2009 and appointed Marco Zanini as the creative director.

After taking an early Emirates A380 flight to Paris, we started the first day with a visit to the Rochas showroom after checking in to the beautiful Plaza Athenee Hotel for fittings – trying on a few different looks from my rail for next day’s show. Day two with Rochas started with hair & make up in the room by make up artist, Rafael Pita and Hair stylist, Nabil Harlow both from B-Agency. After a quick glam session, I headed out for my interview with the nose behind Rochas’s brand new fragrance, Secret coming out in a few months in his Lab.

JM Duriez spoke to me about the importance of fragrance to the brand – the brand launched their first one very soon after they started the house in 1936 as Marcel Rochas was very fond of perfume. I was shown the different iconic perfumes from the house starting with Femme Rochas. I was then introduced to the brand new fragrance, Secret which doesn’t launch for another few months – which was made to capture the mystery and the elegance of the Parisian woman. Fresh, Fruity, and Floral with a touch of elegance. The fragrance is made up of Osmanthus (a flower from China), Jasmine and Peach. Duriez mentioned that he himself wouldn’t mention everything about the fragrance to keep the mystery as well as not revealing the secret ingredient within the fragrance (all my guesses were wrong…) The development of a fragrance is a long process, and this one took over 10 years ago – when he started thinking about the fragrance, and kept on looking back at it every year.

After heading back to the hotel, we got ready and headed out to the show at the Chaillot Museum in Trocadero. As Marco Zanini’s last collection for the house – The new designer is Alessandro Dell’Aqua of No. 21 – really looking forward to his first collection this season but I must say Marco left the house with a strong collection, that was a favourite among editors.

Venue: Palais Chaillot with the view of the Eiffel tower

The Collection: Whimsical, Fun, and youthful colours with more structured silhouettes.

Inspiration: Tennessee Williams’ play The Glass Menagerie.

Trends: Slingback flats, prints, velvet, and crystals.

Thank you Rochas for an amazing two days. I’m looking forward to the brand getting stocked in Dubai soon…