So the news is in, and apparently Olivier Theyskens has been fired, or ousted, or has elected to leave the house of Nina Ricci. the Gossip mills of the fashion world are spinning with the news that my man Olivier was not making commercial enough collections that were not selling well, and that in times like these making money is more important than beautiful clothes. And then he releases an autumn/winter 09 fashion show that BLEW everyone's minds. and not in a good way.
Let's just get some pictures first, i think, because image is everything, is it not?
[catwalking]
When i woke up this morning and clicked on the Nina Ricci show coverage i was not expecting to see clothes like this. The glitter? the bright 80s neons? the strong shoulders? The diamante embellished jeans (a look i chose not to include in the pictures above)? And, well, those stripper heels?!!! From someone who has loved and adored Olivier since before the Rochas days, and someone who has literally matured along with his romantic and truly beautiful gowns, it was nothing short of a shock.
Then what... after the initial knee jerk reaction, what were my thoughts:
God, i love fashion.
This was completely unexpected. Yes? Did we ever think that Olivier, our Olivier, would send down a sequined jumpsuit that was so reminiscent of Balmain, or a dress with his signature short at the front long at the back hem complete with HUGE 80s shoulders you could land an airplane on? The answer, quite frankly is no. Accustomed as i am to his romance tempered with a hint of sinful sexuality (the dark sheers of last collection?), i was thrown by this collection, but in a good way. In fact, the darkness and nocturnal (his word, not mine) mood seemed like romance at night, the kind of Theyskens girl who keeps a gun in a garter hidden just beneath the folds of those gravity-defying swirly skirts.
Sure, i don't actually think i could wear any of this personally, but then, did i ever think i could wear the Ricci dresses that were edwardian-esque in their sculpted bodices? I liked them because they were so beautiful, and stunningly lovely dresses is one of the reasons i fell in love with fashion, but another of those reasons is because you are never wholly sure of what is going to happen. Each season a designer has the ability to completely change or completely evolve, it is why i love CHristopher Kane so much. And yes, although there are elements of design in this collection that i think are completely horridious (like the orange puffer jacket), there are also some really stunning fashion moments here. The last couple of dresses were magical in a very 80s way. The dress on Lily seemed to morph from brocade flower print into sequins and then into her skin like a chameleon mid change. And the blue skirt on Vlada seemed to shimmer around her legs like cloud vapour, a look that Theyskens arguably has patent on.
It seems most people are up in arms about this show either because it is A) so different to Theyskens' other collections, or B) because it is not designed very well. To the first i would direct them to read the paragraphs above. Change is not always a bad thing, and there may be reasons why this change is necessary right now. For one, he is leaving the house, and therefore wants to leave with a BANG, either a BANG that shoots the creative director in the eye, or a BANG that leaves everyone pleasantly stunned.
With B) it is a little difficult. I can see where they are coming from, considering that on the most part all of this is new territory for Theyskens. The bright colours, the sequins, the rock chick vibe. It is all a departure, and a grand departure, and he is a new hand at it. So there will be some beginner-esque element to his design in this collection. On the other hand, though, i think there is some truly fabulous design. In the dark outfits that opened the collection the tailoring on the suits and the military jackets were precise and fine, in a way that Ricci fans have come to expect from their young designer. There was a depth and maturity to the outfits that showed clever allusions to Mugler and Westwood, as well as a development of his signature looks. And Theyskens has always favoured a more defined shoulder, in the jackets of the later look he has merely explored this further in a very sophisticated way, shoulders that both jut out sharply, and also those that are rounded as well.
If it was a show giving the finger to the Nina Ricci bosses and the executive officers powers that be, well, the better for him in a way. I hope it wasn't just a bitter attack on his former employers, however, and that there is that element of versace-esque crazy fashion here. Because i do see something great, and i don't think i'm reading too much into it. It may not have been great design, or great vision, or hell, great romance.
But by god, it was great fashion.
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