Olivier Theyskens' Strong Signature

PARIS, France — Due to a scheduling snafu, I was not able to attend today's show and had to settle for the pictures, which is, of course, not the same thing. Theyskens chose a gallery in the same street of his headquarters as a venue, a noticeable shift from last season's grandiose staging at Le Train Bleu. The homecoming, so to speak, signalled the designer's will to focus, once again, on the core values of his namesake label, which is still in its infancy in terms of sales, despite being more mature creatively.

This means that the collection was small, but strong in its signature. Theyskens' very own face-off between the delicate and the tough — the juxtaposition of lingerie inspirations and sharp masculine tailoring, fragile lace and leather — was on display, with a more graphic edge than usual. The colour palette revolved around black and white, with shots of red and purple. This being Theyskens, hooks ran here and there as a sort of functional decoration and signature. The draped gowns in the end were truly exquisite. For the rest, it looked like the kind of Theyskens collection the audience was likely to expect. In other words, no surprises — at least, judging from the pictures.