Women's
Conversation With: Olivier Theyskens
- Ken and Olivier
NM Fashion Director Ken Downing and designer Olivier Theyskens lunched at La Gazzetta bistro in New York’s Meatpacking District.
Ken Downing: So, Olivier, did you know that before you were announced as the new artistic director of Theory in 2010, Andrew Rosen [Theory founder and co-CEO] called to ask what I would think if he hired an important fashion name to lead the Theory design team?
Olivier Theyskens: Really?
KD: Oh yes! I told him if he was thinking about someone amazing like Olivier Theyskens it would be a brilliant move.
OT: You did not!
KD: Of course I did! He was very curious how I’d known he was talking to you.
OT: How did you know?
KD: I didn’t have a clue. I just loved the idea of you and your talent at Theory—and even better, we get the Theyskens’ Theory collection from you as well!
OT: You know, originally, it was suppose to be called Olivier Theyskens, but I loved the idea of Theyskens’ Theory. The THs, it just seemed right.
KD: Do you design the two collections separately, or simultaneously?
OT: All at the same time. I design the Theyskens’ Theory collection in the morning, and Theory later in the afternoon. Theyskens’ Theory is my signature, my laboratory. Theory is about who wears the clothes. My image of Theory is to be a bit younger in attitude— more connected, free-minded in her spirit, relaxed in her elegance.
KD: I remember being at your first Paris show. I have been a fan from the very beginning! Did you ever imagine your journey in fashion would bring you to New York?
OT: I love that I am free to move all the time, to stay fresh by moving. It keeps me connected with now and the new future. I am loving New York, it is a good influence and I love the energy of the city. New York is less dramatized than where I have been in the past; New York is more fluid. I love the collaborative work I am doing with my team. It is easy for me to initiate new ideas in New York.
KD: Do you miss doing the dramatic gowns that have been your signature?
OT: I can still do them. I love suits and blouses—I have always admired Yves Saint Laurent— but I do them my way. My girl is different.
Theyskens' Theory
KD: Why are we all obsessed with Yves Saint Laurent?
OT: When I was young, my mother would show me pictures of YSL fashion. My mother had a great sense of style.
KD: It is interesting to me that so many of us in fashion have mothers who were so influential on our careers.
OT: I also have an aunt who sold hippie clothes and yards of bright-colored wool at a market. I would go with her, brush her hair. She had a great influence on me as well.
KD: You have such a sophisticated approach to color. Is there a color you are most often attracted to?
OT: I love color! I love beautiful purples, colors connected to cosmetics. I am very connected to nature, but I also like colors that are very unnatural.
KD: That is very Olivier of you—uncomplicated, yet complex! Did the early days with your aunt selling yards of wool in the market begin your interest in textiles? I was obsessed with the techno cellophane pant in your spring Theyskens’ Theory show.
OT: I am always attracted to iridescence. I am always brightening my palette. I love the idea of insect green for spring. I am always developing fabrics for my collection. I was told the fabric idea, the hologram, was too early an idea for the show. We really pushed it, and I got it in time!
KD: I am crazy for the hologram pant and love how it looks with the white jacket.
OT: My Theyskens’ Theory collection is about how a girl mixes clothes, not too “matchy matchy.” You can wear a black jacket with that pant, too. I want the clothes to look like they are their own, and that my girls can wear them their own way.
KD: You have always loved a maxi skirt. You have them in every collection.
OT: Because I like it, because I am Olivier! There are things that are always there. The maxi skirt is my classic. I always have some Victorian, too. I always find that when you have a strong sense, a connection to beauty, it creates a strong memory. Melancholy poetry is my movie—a joyous melancholy. I will carry this melancholy joy all of my life, although I do not like to show myself as melancholy.
KD: Joy is an interesting word for you to pair with melancholy. It appears New York has been good for you?
OT: I am so happy in America, so absolutely happy!
KD: Another things that is a constant in an Olivier show is ridiculously high shoes.
OT: I love to push boundaries. They do not defy death! (He picks up a table knife to use as measuring instrument.) This high, as high as I could get, and as thin as a pencil!
KD: But in the finale, you did an about face! Every model returned in the same outfit wearing flat combat boots!
OT: I do all of my fittings on girls in flat shoes. If it looks great in a flat, it will look beyond in a heel!
KD: You always design the perfect leather jacket. You were one of the first designers to reintroduce corduroy when many were focused on denim. You’ve been ahead of the curve with photo prints. What are you working on and excited about now?
OT: I am most excited about my capsule collection for Theory, 5 Jackets. It is about the personalities of women more than just clothes. Her character, as an actor in a movie, but the idea of many icons, not just one actor. My favorite is a cotton shirt worn with a sensual suit! The trouser is a cigarette pant, very le smoking! That’s the intellectual girl.
KD: There’s that Saint Laurent influence again. You are a very busy boy—Theory, Theyskens’ Theory, and now 5 Jackets. Do you ever feel overwhelmed?
OT: I am very focused. No stress, no stupid stress! I am anxious, but for all the right reasons!
Shop Theory and Theyskens’ Theory at NeimanMarcus.com and Neiman Marcus stores during the Current Event, March 15-18, to earn a gift with purchase.
