The official opening of the Roger Dubuis stand has become a kind of informal opening ceremony for the SIHH at 9am on the Monday morning. But since the brand's CEO Jean-Marc Pontroué is adamant that men will be forbidden this year, your editor-in-chief took a peek behind the scenes yesterday evening with Isabelle Guignet.
For the brand the stand sets the scene for the communication throughout the year and will be found in various guises at the brand's events and points of sale. The red carpet theme of haute couture fashion shows is clear, although Alvaro Maggini stresses that the clothes were chosen for the intemporal nature to go with the new watches in the Velvet collection being presented. From some sixty creations from star designers, a shortlist of around 20 was made, from which only a handful have made it on to the glittering set of the stand.
The new stand is a culmination of nearly a year's work for Maggini, who had a clear brief from his boss: "Jean-Marc wanted nothing but femininity, so that helped me to avoid anything that might disturb the theme," he explained to WorldTempus. "The theme of the collection is the Diva. She is someone who is always under the spotlight and we can see her in her element here. I also had to think about the characteristics of the woman who would represent Roger Dubuis, or at least the woman we would like to represent the brand. Then I built around the five pillars of the new collection and linked the dress of each model with the characteristics of each watch, which on its own took several months of work.
The challenge for Jean-Marc Pontroué was to bring together the worlds of haute horlogerie and haute couture which share similar values but in different locations, without the "fashion" aspect. "We were not looking to say this is what we will have today, this will be what we have tomorrow and this is what will come the day after tomorrow," he said. "This is an exercise in style. We want the Velvet to be one of Roger Dubuis's iconic watches in five year's time."
