Olivier Theyskens launched his namesake collection two years ago now, and this is his first Resort offering. “Having the same clothes in stores for six months starts to look sleepy,” he acknowledged in his Marais atelier, which had been converted into a temporary showroom for sales. Though the Theyskens operation remains small, there are signs that it’s growing. To start, the designer is looking for a bigger workspace for himself and his team. But he’s not rushing things. That goes for real estate and it goes for his clothes, as well.
The new Theyskens label is proudly quotidian—not ordinary, but definitely designed for the everyday. It’s a different approach from his years at Nina Ricci and Rochas. You could say, in fact, that his new work owes more to his time at Theory in New York than it does to French ateliers. He does tailoring and denim and slip dresses now, and the sturdy boots and oxfords his clients need for going about their busy days. On the tailoring front this season, he’s liking the look of an oversize, androgynous jacket in leather, with the sleeves scrunched up past the elbows. Pants come in a linen viscose in two shapes: high-waisted and full-legged or low-waisted and pegged. As boyish as that silhouette is, he continues to appreciate a feminine line. Cases in point: leather apron dresses with hook-and-eye fastenings and a corseted strapless tweed dress. The hooks and eyes reappear on Theyskens’s denim, which is thoughtfully done in a faded grayish wash with frayed edges.
“I just thought of the essentials,” Theyskens said of his work developing this collection. The piece that looked the most essential from these eyes was a sturdy trench in a broody shade of khaki made definitively unordinary by its extra-large pockets.
