On Olivier Theyskens

In honor of seeing Olivier tomorrow, I decided to go through his entire (available) career and pick out my favorites. It seems so crazy that I have been absolutely in love with him for almost 10 years. 10 YEARRS! I don't remember exactly the point that I became obsessed with him, but I think an article in Vogue (possibly 1998?) had a lot to do with it. It was an article titled something like "The New Vanguard" or something and it had a picture of a model in a huge black Olivier ballgown going down a stairway backstage at a fashion show. I tried to find it online, but I couldn't find it, but I know I still have it back at my parents house. Since then, Olivier was my little secret and is responsible for introducing me to one of my favorite magazines; V (the first issue had a portrait of him, which I quickly hung up on my wall). He dressed Melissa Auf Der Maur, the Smashing Pumpkins, Madonna and seemed to be inexplicably linked to Inez Van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, my favorite photographers. Maybe now you can understand the level of excitement I am feeling. I will see him tonite!
And now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's get to the clothes.

Olivier Theyskens Fall 2000
I was completely mesmerized by this collection, and I always loved that the models looked like they had a 5 o'clock shadow. I imagined they were chimney sweeps that got all dirty and didn't have time to take a shower, but had to go to the ball anyways. The big blue gown wore by Erin O'Connor is just breathtaking.

Olivier Theyskens Fall 2001
I think in this collection we start to see a bit more of where Olivier was headed in the future. Soft fluid lines and careful femininity are part of his trademark now. I was always obsessed with the second gown from the left; it seemed like it was made for a princess in Neverending Story. The dress all the way to the right is very reminiscent of recent Lanvin collections.

Olivier Theyskens Spring 2002
I loved this collection! The colors! The birds! The Victorian-like blouse as a top!

Rochas Fall 2003
His first collection for Rochas was breathtaking. I loved the volume and the bright colors.

Rochas Spring 2004
In this collection you can see a bit of the "Old Olivier" coming through. Somehow he can make a beautifully feminine and romantic collection without making it saccharine sweet and cliche.

Rochas Fall 2004
Definitely an extension of the Spring collection, I love the shade of Mustard Yellow he used and the combination of the classic materials with metallic pumps.

Rochas Spring 2005
Collections like this, make me wish my lifestyle involved lots of fancy black tie events so that I could wear beautiful gowns all the time.

Rochas Fall 2005
The color palette in this collection was exquisite. The look all the way to the left is one of my absolute favorites.

Rochas Spring 2006
This was the first time he did pants at Rochas. I love that he is so careful with the message and the things he designs, so much so that he hadn't done a pant until he had figured out what a Rochas pant was like. The suits were feminine and romantic, like the rest of his vision, but they certainly had a defiant attitude in their fabric and construction. They were very Rock N' Roll.

Rochas Fall 2006
I loved everything about this collection. The smokey-night fall colors, the bird motif, the volume, everything was just perfectly executed and carried such a MOOD. This would be the last Rochas collection, after Procter & Gamble acquired the house, and shut it down.

Nina Ricci Fall 2007
And then he's back! And he's back with one of the most breathtaking collections we've seen in a while! Somehow after seeing this collection, I fell in love with him even more. Everything is absolutely magical. My favorite thing though, is that he manages to keep the "Olivier" vision throughout all these incarnations, yet you can definitely see the difference between each brand. The Nina Ricci girl and the Rochas girl would definitely be friends, but they are not one and the same.

Nina Ricci Spring 2008
And this is now, and then the future.