“The Rocky Horror Picture Show” and Cécile Rosenstrauch’s 1980s
A business born in the 1980s, NellyRodi is now celebrating its 40th birthday. We asked Cécile Rosenstrauch, NellyRodi’s Global Creative Director, to tell us about her 1980s.
When I came to Paris in 1989, I immediately joined all the film libraries, and I often saw two films back to back when I went. I saw many movies of every genre, but I remember one in particular that affected that 18-year-old me – “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” a musical comedy by Richard O’Brien.
I was the granddaughter of a film director and my mother was a musician, so my passion for images and what they convey through esthetic (and musical) codes, steadily grew through the years. Even as a very little girl, I loved watching the “Cinéma de Minuit” TV show and discovering Busby Berkeley’s movies.
Though it was released in 1975, “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” which paid homage to B horror movies from the 30s, 40s and 50s, is a true rock ‘n’ roll hallucination with unfettered sexuality and full of humor. The gothic looks totally mirrored my own style at that time, which was inspired by Robert Smith from The Cure and Siouxsie and the Banshees (among others). This caused my parents enormous despair: lavishly applied lipstick worn with nonchalant pride, crimped, 100% anti-clean hair (held perfectly in place thanks to a lice comb and Marseille soap) and an all-black bat cave outfit. I faithfully wore this exuberant ensemble every Friday evening at the Locomotive disco (now-defunct and replaced by the Machine du Moulin Rouge) where I heard sounds as optimistic and upbeat as my look. It was part of the end of the 80s when disillusionment with the Regan years was taking hold. It represented the voice of a certain group of young people who needed to be heard and was the precursor of grunge and then electro.
The era when “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” was released was one of very defined types of films – even patriarchal à la Clint Eastwood. But beyond its groundbreaking character, the movie also used elegant, hippie and disco fashions to open up new possibilities with looks that included corsets and black stockings layered with leather jackets, in short where all rock’s visual cues became more provocative and sexy! It was an invitation to a more liberated approach that pushed the joyful rock-goth style with underwear as outerwear and a BDSM vibe to a radical, completely crazy mood offering an escape from bootcut, high-waisted pants.
The movie was a prophetic, avant-garde hybrid genre (comedy + science fiction + horror + B), and it clearly marked not just the 70s but the 80s but afterwards as well. Just look at “Desperately Seeking Susan” in 1985, “The Lost Boys” in 1987, Coppola’s “Dracula” in 1992 or the 2008 “True Blood” TV series to name a few. The movie is still completely relevant in 2025 and holds the record as the longest-running show; 40 years after its release it’s still programmed in movie theaters around the world. In fact, if you go see it today at the Studio Galande in Paris’ 5th arrondissement, you can not only sing but also throw water and rice (during the storm and the weddings) and do the traditional “Rocky Horror Picture Show” dance, the Time Warp! Here again, the movie was the first of its kind, since it was experiential without special effects. And even today, it makes us want to wear a motorcycle jacket, corset and black stockings.
It has become cult and legendary and is one of the timeless films. It broke genre codes and influenced the blending of feminine and masculine and accepting differences and sexual identities. And it clearly opened the way for the expression of a dissenting goth esthetic – in dark colors, yes, but with a completely wacky, fun attitude.
Mugler, Montana, Jean-Paul Gaultier and Rick Owens who were also probably influenced by this movie that introduced us all up to a very different, even life-affirming path. Even recently, wasn’t Balenciaga’s SS25 show with its neo-lingerie bodysuits another nod to the movie?
The world has never been in such need of uniqueness, creativity and honest inclusivity to restart the creative machine with sincerity and freedom. And don’t forget a big dose of humor so we can keep on dancing the Time Warp together.
“It’s just a jump to the left,
And then a step to the right,
Put your hands on your hips,
You bring your knees in tight …”
