70 ELLE DECORLIVING ANATOMY OF A HOUSE
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Felloni in
his dressing room, where the 1960s
table is by Piero Fornasetti, the vintage
sliding door is by Franco Albini, and the
1960s chandelier is by Venini. In the living
room, the 1960s sofa and armchairs are
by Osvaldo Borsani and the vintage drinks
table is by Piero Fornasetti. The sitting
room’s sofa and armchairs by Gae Aulenti
and sconces, which once hung in a waiting
room at Milan’s Central Station, are
all vintage. LEFT: Roger Vivier
I Love Vivier Crystal Wave
Dec 100 pumps, $1,150.
RIGHT: Roger
Vivier Broche
bracelet, $495.G
HERARDO FELLONI,
creative director of
the legendary French
shoe brand Roger
Vivier, can spot a
trend at least a decade before any-
one else. In his previous position
as accessories designer at Miu Miu,
he was the vision behind the iconic
jeweled heels and shearling slides
embellished with faux pearls that
became instant hits. And last year,
he introduced the first sneakers to be
designed for Roger Vivier; they were
soon bestsellers. But Felloni’s intu-
ition isn’t restricted to shoes. The
Paris-based designer bought himself
a Gio Ponti bed from the Parco dei
Principi Grand Hotel & Spa in Rome
as his first piece of furniture. “That
was over 15 years ago,” he says. At
the time, the market
for designs by the
Italian architect had
yet to heat up. “But
I was obsessed,”
Felloni says.
He was also relatively prescient
when it came to finding a home
in Paris. Almost 10 years ago, the
designer was looking for a living
space with a garden when a friend
told him about a residential enclave
in the city’s 20th arrondissement: La
Campagne à Paris (The Countryside
in Paris), with cobblestone streets
and views over the city. “It’s a neigh-
borhood that gives you a sense of the
real Paris,” he says.
Felloni’s early-20th- century
house, which has three floors andis covered with vines, feels both
old-fashioned and extremely mod-
ern. The designer, with his mani-
cured mustache, coiffed dark hair,
and pale skin, resembles a Romantic
poet but is also known for his quirky
up-to-the-minute sense of style (he’ll
wear an antique necklace featuring
a cameo of Jupiter with snakes over a
tailored shirt with sneakers).
The interiors of his house, outfit-
ted with a mix of vintage pieces and
flea-market finds, are just as eclectic.
For instance, in the living room, a
large-scale replica of Michelangelo’s
David holds court next to framed
photographs of Cher.
Felloni also gravitates toward
bespoke furniture and objects made
by two of his favorite collaborators:
the furniture designer Duccio Maria
Gambi and the art-
ist Nicola Martini.
Gambi, who helped
Felloni with the
interior design of
the home (archi-
tect Matteo Morbidi oversaw the
renovations), designed the sculp-
tural cement-and-brass tables in
the sitting room. Their vibrant blue
hue echoes the color of an Op Art
painting by Victor Vasarely, which
hangs between a pair of oversize
vintage glass sconces that came out
of a waiting room in Milan’s Central
Station. In the same room, a golden
oxidized mirror by Martini hangs
on the wall, reflecting the light com-
ing in from the opposite windows
and tinting everything around it