At this moment in the season, the trends are coming together. Lingerie as outerwear is a thing for Spring. Black is the new black. And designers en masse have determined to get women out of their comfy sneakers, preferably into a pair of towering platforms. Olivier Theyskens’s collection touched on all three points today, but this Belgian isn’t a guy who thinks in seasons or devotes much time to what’s in and what’s out. Since reestablishing his eponymous line three years ago, he’s only refined his design message. He likes an attenuated silhouette, he loves black, and now, as 20 years ago when he emerged on the scene, hooks and eyes are his predominant leitmotif.
This season Theyskens was preoccupied with the actual making of the clothes, a process he says he relishes. He wanted to expose the darting techniques, leave edges unfinished, and use lining fabric in place of finer materials. This meant that on a pair of jackets the vertical seams that gave them their nipped waist shape were visible on the outside of the garments, and the lace hem of a midi skirt was attached on its exterior, rather than its interior. These were the right instincts; those techniques served to soften the more severe of his cuts, and to give them a cooler vibe than they might otherwise have had. Even evening dresses got the inside-out treatment. A strapless dress in tiers of natural-color linen was both humble and grand, and accessorized with a black leather shoulder harness, it was evocative of the goth gowns this designer was making two decades ago.
Theyskens has a steady eye. One way that he’s missing the current moment is with his quite narrow view of womanhood. To cast and cut for different-size women might push him forward.
