时尚街拍网Madonna, raven-haired in a dramatic medieval ballgown, daffodil yellow and cinched in like armour, arriving at the 1998 VH1 Fashion Awards in Maleficent style.Its where minds travel at the mention of Olivier Theyskens, the Belgian designer who became a household name when the superstar started wearing his dresses during her Ray of Light era.It was only a year after he had dropped out of Brussels prestigious La Cambre fashion school to found his label.He was 21, ivory-skinned and doe-eyed with long, black locks like some darkly androgynous elf, and the fashion world – still unchallenged by the internet – was at his feet.
"I was working in an apartment in Brussels with different floors, and a friend who was working with me saw Madonna on TV, wearing one of my dresses,"Theyskens recalls."I was doing something important downstairs, so I just said, “Can you record it?”In the uncomplicated VHS age of the Nineties, the impact of celebrity endorsement on fashion hadnt quite reached the squealing fangirl heights of today.
Being worn by the biggest superstar on the planet, nonetheless, did help to shift a few dresses – even in the Nineties."When it was happening, it was the beginning of the year when I showed my first presentation in Paris, which was just custom-made things.And I got a lot of work just from that,"Theyskens says.At 40, nearly 20 years on, he now sports decidedly un-androgynous stubble but is as doe-eyed as ever, his locks grown back into tresses after a bob phase defined by his four years as creative director for Theory in New York, between 2010 and 2014.
Hes back in Paris, nearly one season into the relaunch of the eponymous brand he put on hold in 2002.His out-of-the-blue comeback show at Paris Fashion Week in September was a welcome return, not just because Theyskens has been a fixture on the fashion scene for some two decades, but because his creative language is so exclusive to him its entirely irreplaceable.His spring/summer 2017 collection was like seeing an old friend, the whimsically romantic and slightly eerie type: leather dresses like breastplates, rigidly sculptural tailoring dreamt up somewhere between Renaissance and Baroque, and those black, billowing gothic gowns.
Good fairies and evil stepmothersunited, the way they always did through Theyskens fairytale monocle."I think the spirit of the company is very linked to what I experienced when I was doing the brand at the end of the Nineties,"he points out over a canned tea drink and a bowl of something Japanese and healthy in the bright white Le Marais studio where he also lives."Back then I was in Brussels, but also working in Italy for all the developments.We were a strong team; small, but with everyone super-involved, so I see it as a sort of continuation."
In the decades that passed, Theyskens rode the wave of a fashion industry in hasty evolution.From 2002 to 2006 he was creative director of Rochas, where he perfected his shadowy sense of cascading floor-length flou (fluid dressing).Between 2006 and 2009, he served as creative director for Nina Ricci, transforming his gothic disposition into romantic and delicate belle-of-the-ball dressing.Eventually, he tested his dark grandeur on a mid-market very different from the Parisian luxury houses that brought him up, as head of Theory in America.
"When I was in New York, it was always clear I wasnt going to be there forever.I was having an experience and I loved the company so much I thought, “I could stay here”.But deep inside, I had to be honest.This wasnt going to be my career – its not the goal of my life."Theyskens felt he had to return to Europe and the Italian manufacturers he loves.This is a very personal decision, not a global market decision, he notes, hinting at the reality of the fashion industry today, a corporate realm radically different to the pre-internet Nineties climate that spawned his label.
"What I remember is that, back then, you would consider things long term.When I started doing Rochas, I thought, “Ill be here for 20 or 30 years”.After several years there I was like, “This is going to continue forever”.His tenure ended abruptly when the houses parent company Procter & Gamble – amid steady praise for Theyskens work – decided to close the Rochas fashion division, citing poor sales.(It now lives again, fronted by Alessandro dellAcqua.)
"In the past 15 years weve grown accustomed to designers being involved with a project for just a few years, with barely time to develop a store concept or create a movement of customers,"Theyskens reflects, bringing to mind recent short-lived pairings such as Hedi Slimane at Saint Laurent, Raf Simons at Dior, and Peter Dundas at Roberto Cavalli."I dont know if its what the new coreof fashion is about: moving quickly from one thing to another?At some of the brands that become customer favourites, I guess customers dont want to see designers come and go?If someone likes a brand they want to see a nice story evolving within it."
Theyskens roughly belongs to the same generation as Slimane, Simons and Dundas.They each established signature creative languages before the internet age of fashion, and were carried through its digital and corporate evolution on a string of increasingly fleeting big fashion-house jobs, which would come to define the industry cycle today.In relaunching his own label, which he also self-funds, Theyskens is effectively breaking away from that system.
"Its not my vocation to be self-funding, but at least at the start its cool, because it brings things down to a scale that is very human," he explains."The people youre partnering with all know youre a small structure, that youre brave and have the guts to take the risk and do it.It creates a good vibe between the project and the people you interact with."In todays conglomerate-driven fashion industry, theres no greater privilege than being your own boss.
With a studio of fewer than 10 people, Theyskens new independence has allowed him to rebuild a business, which would seem virtually conservative in the eyes of a brave new fashion world.Burberry and Tom Ford have transitioned into see-now-buy-now shows retailing product as its presented; brands such as Gucci and Bottega Veneta are stirring up the fashion calendar by merging their womens and mens shows; and everyone has given into pre-collections and collaborations, maximising their commercial output.
Not Olivier Theyskens."Right now were doing two collections a year.The product is tightly edited.Were being very focused with distribution so as to not be spread out too easily everywhere.I have a very refined, really luxurious approach to the clothes, and at the same time I want to create all the foundations for my brand to be a house in the future.Im not telling a story of big money, Im telling a story of evolving as a small entity – profitable, if possible – step by step,"he clarifies."Taking the time."
Above all, his focus is on the artisanal value of a garment."I think a lot about the people who are producing the fabrics – the people in the little ateliers, who love doing a very high-end, elaborate product,"he notes."The fashion world has various typologies of companies cohabiting with different strategies, profiles and partners, so I just hope that the girls who like my things are ready to wait three months between the show and the store,"he laughs.
"You have extremes in this market: women willing to wait years for a Birkin bag, and others who want silk pyjamas instantly.There are people who wait to see a movie in a theatre – and those who dont mind watching a bad stream on their computer – and I understand that.I just think that in any case the authenticity of what Im doing is the justification for why you have to be prepared to wait a little bit, and get that coat at the right time of the year,"he says."The difference with see-now-buy-now is that youre seeing the season that is happening.But is this the reality you want to be experiencing immediately?Im not so sure it always hits the spot, because you need to build your desire."Its a philosophy intrinsically connected to this designers creative understanding.
Born in Brussels in 1977 to a chemical engineer father and housewife mother, the young Theyskens had the kind of passion for beauty you mainly read about in the biographies of grand old couturiers."Ive always been enchanted with things I find beautiful.Ive always loved looking at nature and girls.Ive always loved beautiful stories and life itself.I want to know as much as possible, from astrophysics to anything,"he says.
"When I work I almost never have inspiration around me.It just comes from inside somehow, and from interacting with everyone in the team."Theyskens always elevated the ordinary in his work, from majestic collections inspired by violin boxes and chimney sweeps, to the gothic, almost sci-fi sense of drama thats become his trademark.
"Sometimes you end up fighting against an etiquette, because you can be labelled.There was a very young person who was discovering my work, and for that person it was bizarre to see I had been doing things that were a bit edgy, dark, spiky, gothic in the past, because that person thought I was more of a romantic designer,"Theyskens recalls."So its very strange because it depends on what people experience, and their a priori."
What of Madonna, then, whose impact on his career was so strong she still finds her way into features about him two decades on?"I think to be part of her clothing story is amazingly rewarding, not in a practical way but in a personal way."Would he dress her today?
"Every time someone is attracted to what I do, I really pay attention.Its very important, especially with artists, because they have many instinctive reasons."If Madonna is as symptomatic of the digital time she now lives in – Instagramming up a storm in a Moschino dress – as she was in the neo-spiritual late Nineties – henna hands and Kabbalah bracelets on display – Olivier Theyskens then and now has changed little."I have a way of designing thats very natural.Its important people have the feeling that this is typically Olivier.You feel it overall – its Oliviers way.And for this I just have to let myself go and not over-question myself."
In a social media-fuelled fashion climate where people have the attention span of a fly, its not an uncourageous attitude.Current hype favourites such as Balenciaga and Vetements are faced with constant reinvention in order not to lose their street cred, and mega-brands like Louis Vuitton must capitalise on clever collaborations, like it did with the cult streetwear label Supreme for its AW17 mens collection.
Across the fashion landscape, designers are having to find the balance between creativity and commerciality like never before, sometimes waiving their freedom in the process."Hmm,"Theyskens shrugs, weighing that thought."I dont think I feel free in any case, even with myself.Im constantly reviewing the results of our work.I have usually been hired to bring creativity and a new vision, not to be secluded and constrained.You need freedom for the artistic vision.So I dont feel too much of a difference.I dont know people who say were not free creatively.I dont hear that."
The relaunch of Olivier Theyskens doesnt just represent new beginnings, it would seem, but old ones, too.Theres a certain comfort to be found in this designers unfazed approach to a frenzied fashion industry very different from the one he started out in. This isnt fast-forward fashion, but a return to tried and tested values, which dont need new formats or social media schemes to work.(He is on Instagram, by the way, but alongside his official brand account he uses a private one for family and friends – and all hell divulge about his personal life is that hes "very happy".)
"I wont say conservative,"Theyskens offers, pondering his new place in fashion, "but Im in a more practical situation where I produce a very small collection and give all the attention to the details.I believe in all the things I create.Its the classic way, which is how things have ended up being done for many years."
Before the conversation he notices my old notebook."I like the colour of the paper youre writing on.Apricot," he observes, pointing to its patinated pages."Its cool the way its aged."
www.oliviertheyskens.com
