Sophie Theallet (Q9187)
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Sophie Theallet is a fashion house from FMD.
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Sophie Theallet |
Sophie Theallet is a fashion house from FMD. |
Statements
The word that sprang to mind at the conclusion ofSophie Theallet’s show this evening was “abundance.” There was an abundance of looks—far more than Theallet generally shows—and within that number, an abundance of rich materials, an abundance of silhouettes, an abundance of technique. Frankly, the whole thing should have been a mess. But it wasn’t, thanks in large part to Theallet’s immaculate craftsmanship, and more than that, due to the cohering effect of her superabundance of joy. Theallet this season was a kid in the fashion candy store, rampaging to suit her own pleasure in the luxury of clothes, and then, sated, sharing out the sweets with everyone else.The “everyone else” is important: The reason Theallet rifled through so many dress shapes here is that she wanted to be inclusive. One woman might find that a fil coupe velvet dress in the signature nipped-waist/full-skirt Theallet silhouette suited her; another could reach for a short trapeze dress collaged from the same fabric, along with complementary others. Yet another woman would prefer a pencil dress in another cut velvet, a rich black one suggestive in texture of fur, and her friend would gravitate to a side-draped, skin-baring number in black and cream. And so on,ad infinitum, pretty much. Women have different bodies and differing taste; Theallet paid homage to that variety. Hers is an interesting form of egalitarianism: Anyone with the bank balance to buy these very expensive clothes, most of them made from textiles shipped from France and normally found in couture, is welcome.There were a ton of strong individual looks here, and inevitably, a few that fell flat. Listing bests and worsts is a fool’s errand; what really stood out, amid the profusion, were a few of Theallet’s extraordinary fabrics. There was the handmade tweed in rust tones, for instance, and that fur-like cut velvet, and crystal-spattered mesh, and an oddball but nevertheless appealing graphic print inspired by the appearance of condensation on a water glass. Theallet also made some gutsy decisions about how to mix up her materials—the finale dress layered several fine fabrics over each other to create a beautifully dimensional look, while a white and bronze top coat was made by bonding the collection’s much-used velvet fil coupe to cashmere. Simply put, Theallet was luxuriating in luxury, seeing what she could do with her ostentatiously upscale textiles if she took the brakes off and allowed herself to play.
She was having a great time of it, and the mood was contagious.
12 February 2016
TheSophie Thealletshow this evening kicked off with a bang. A literal one: Audience members snapped to attention as a drummer pounded out a loud beat from the far reaches of Theallet’s outdoor show space. The attention was called for, as this latest collection from the designer was one for which you wanted to be wide awake.This was a joyful fashion show. The music, supplied by a troupe of Senegalese drummers, was thoroughly happy-making, and so were the clothes, the best that Theallet has ever produced. Africa was the key reference here, unabashedly so. It was a “dream of Africa,” as Theallet put it, that she extrapolated via textures of raffia and burlap, cape silhouettes, and extraordinary, couture-quality lace that read a bit like snakeskin. There were also beautiful smudged black-and-white prints that riffed on tribal body paint, and halter necklines redolent of traditional African chokers. Theallet was appropriating, but with such a fluency and generosity of spirit, and with such good instincts about how to integrate her African inspiration into prototypically Western silhouettes, that the appropriation felt earned. The Theallet woman—and she was awoman, not a girl—hadn’t just gone to Africa and returned with some fresh ideas about aesthetics. She’d come back with a whole new point of view.There were too many standout looks here to list them all. Theallet made magic with her lace, using it with subtlety as a cobwebby layer of black on top of a caramel-colored cape, and to much more graphic effect in gridded dresses and skirts. She also wowed the crowd with two sexy striped lace jumpsuits that were shown on genuinely full-figured girls. (This Theallet show was a model for diverse casting in general, by the way.)Theallet updated her signature hourglass silhouette with panache, using broad raffia belts to set off her full shorts and mid-calf skirts. The halter-neck dresses and gowns featuring tiers of feathers and raffia strips belong on a red carpet, posthaste. And the daywear spanned from breezily feminine, with ruffled silk dresses in a small smudged dot print, to burlap linen tailoring that was almost utilitarian, it was so matter-of-fact. Theallet finally found her niche as a tailor with this collection—these looks were nearly as confident as the diaphanous sheer numbers that found her revisiting the brand vocabulary that’s been native to her from the start.
It was fitting that this show concluded with a burst of drumming and dancing: Theallet was due a celebration.
15 September 2015
Lots of designers like to say they design for "real" women. Sophie Theallet is one of the few for whom that assertion is patently true: Her dresses and gowns look better, frankly, on women with curves to match the clothes' voluptuous sensibility. At a small runway presentation of Theallet's new collection today, you couldn't help but wonder why she, of all designers, bothers with stick-thin models at all. When choreographer Blanca Li, whose remarkable show,Robot,opened this week at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, came out in Theallet's final look, the collection snapped to life at last. Which isn't to say that the clothes shown before Li's appearance were displeasing—there's no arguing with the appeal of, for instance, an abbreviated tiered skirt and matching trim button-down in crisp perforated cotton—but overall they lacked a certain vigor.Theallet's wallpaper-floral prints packed a nice graphic punch; the perforated navy cotton layered over silver lamé made for a cool effect; and the gold and white halter-neck gown in silk satin had a statuesque elegance. The skirts, dresses, and gowns were cut with the designer's usual feminine flair. Which is to say, this lineup was well executed in all the ways you expect of Theallet—it just failed to surprise you. The sole unpredictable elements were the short hemlines, here and there, which introduced a more youthful spirit than Theallet typically brings to bear, and her waffled cotton tailoring, a category she launched only last season and which she's still working to make her own. The thing that was so redeeming about Li's appearance was that it rewired your perceptions about the collection: As it turned out, the unpredictability in these clothes was meant to come from the women wearing them. Not a bad approach, if you think about it.
11 June 2015
Sophie Theallet appears to be on a mission to single-handedly rehabilitate the fashion reputation of the Roma. WhatMy Big Fat Gypsy Weddingput asunder, she sought to set to rights today, sending out a typically tasteful collection infused with traditional Romani motifs such as ruffles, lace, and mixed patterns. Theallet's take on the theme was sleek yet romantic—she eschewed florals and folkloric prints in favor of mottled brocade and dévoré gold velvet, and her ruffles were rendered in leather, made into a flounce, or added as a flourish at the neckline of a blouse. Which is to say, she used a light touch. It was enough. The black lace, meanwhile, introduced a gothic tone to the collection, and was echoed in the rococo print on a multicolor full skirt and the oversize swirls of an intarsia knit dress.Even though Theallet was working with a sense of discipline here, all of the gypsy-ness might have come off as a little de trop, were it not for the fact that she was working with relatively matter-of-fact silhouettes and mixing up the more sumptuous looks with pieces such as trim and graphic raised jacquard sweaters. Furthermore, Theallet took her first real whack at tailoring this season, and the mannish pinstripe served as another nice counterpoint to the richness of the bulk of the collection. Theallet usually goes full femme, but she's perfectly adept at cutting a sharp pair of trousers. Nowhere was that better proved than in the standout evening look here, a black lace halter top worn with leather-trimmed black wool trousers. Kudos to the actress with the wit to show up in that look at the Oscars.
17 February 2015
Man, a good soundtrack can be soconvincing. The reggae playing at the Sophie Theallet show today was just the thing to lift the spirits on a gray and rainy fashion-week afternoon. It helped that the clothes were pretty ace, too. As Theallet explained, she recently took a trip to Jamaica with a friend, and wound up staying at a place where Arthur Miller and Marilyn Monroe had once holidayed. And all she had to do with that coincidentally loopy mix of references—Jamaica, dancehall, Marilyn on vacation at her sex-bomb peak—was distill it into the familiar idiom of her clothes. And it worked.Theallet already gravitates to Monroe-ishness, with her preference for hourglass silhouettes and a come-hither attitude, so the real news here was her play with Rasta colors and tropical motifs. The latter came through via frond-like prints and patterns of knit and lace, while the Rasta shades were all over the place, most memorably in pieces where red, yellow, and green winked through a top layer of black eyelet. Other looks soft-pedaled the reference, like a soigné frock in sparkly yellow tweed, or a beachcombing-suitable gown in gauzy seersucker stripes. But Theallet didn't aim to be coy—she was plainly enjoying herself this season, and nowhere was the sprightly mood more evident than in her rather goofy, dancehall-inspired black silk organza print. The penultimate look was a gown with a frond-lace halter and a full skirt in the dancehall organza: It was simultaneously dead-sexy, magisterial, and a lot of fun. The good vibes were contagious.
9 September 2014
Sophie Theallet is not the only designer playing with asymmetry and collage effects and patchwork construction this season, and at first blush, her aesthetic would appear to invite that approach. No matter how polished, Theallet's clothes are never fussy—so why not throw a little ersatz into the mix? It turns out, though, that an extra touch of "off" can throw the whole loose-limbed, oh-so-French insouciance thing out of whack. But if the collection never quite found its usual cohesive groove, there were various individual looks here that were very good indeed. Those would include the taut leather-trimmed trousers and the floral print knits. Pretty much everything in the black-accented gold tweed was a winner too, a ruffled pencil dress in particular. And of course, Theallet can be relied on to slingshot a couple of gorgeous gowns down a runway; this season, the killer was the one in freckled devoré velvet, with a deep-dive neckline.
10 February 2014
"Sensuality and seduction." That, according to Sophie Theallet, was the point of her Spring 2014 show. And you didn't need the designer to spell it out for you, either. Right off the bat, with a first look all in red tones that featured a clingy sheer knit top and a skirt with flounces fit for flamenco, she established a tone of ripe sexuality. Theallet being Theallet, this was handled in a decorous, grown-up way, with an emphasis on the subtleties. The waistband of that flounced skirt, for instance, was made from ultra-pliant glove leather. Likewise, the silks this season were hammered, and the knit emphasis was on complicated stitch, all of which added to the collection's evocative sense of tactility.There were a lot of strong looks here, with the snug dresses and skirts with pleated chiffon hems hitting a particular va-va-voom nerve. But the collection's impact in toto was blunted by the overuse of a couple of botanical motifs inspired by the artist Rosemarie Trockel. After the show, Theallet said she liked the idea of showcasing a weed—in this particular instance, a weed that could also be used as medicine. "Bad and good together," she explained. "I like the paradox. I like complicated, because women are complicated." Point taken, but even a weedy floral had the effect of prettifying what was otherwise a graceful tribute to female power and desire.
9 September 2013
Sophie Theallet is one of the six designers up for this year's International Woolmark Prize, which is kind of a super big deal. Given that the prize is sponsored by the good folks in Australia who produce merino wool, it was only to be expected that the material would feature extensively in Theallet's new collection. You might have even thought that the designer would ring a whole bunch of woolen bells and whistles, and use the stuff in flashy ways. But that's not Theallet's style. If anything, she erred on the side of understatement this season, playing to her strengths and acting on what she described, before her show today, as an unwavering dedication to making clothes that are easy, practical, and sophisticated.The matter-of-factness of Theallet's clothes can desensitize you to their grace. But then some subtle element today would sneak up on you, and take your breath away. To wit, her black tank dress, paneled in charcoal wool on either side of its nipped waist, and trimmed in selvedge; that dress was quiet, but terrifically chic. Theallet also has a painterly way with color, and here used small flashes of it to infuse her looks with drama. There was the knit turquoise dress with a band of red at the collar, for instance, which Theallet showed with a trim gray and white ski sweater; also, the look that paired a knee-length gray skirt veined by red selvedge with an amber hand-knit sweater topped by what looked like a brushstroke of turquoise. Again, quiet, again, chic. The noisiest numbers here featured Theallet's print of, as she termed it, "winter flowers"; she used it most effectively in two billowing gowns, which seemed quite modest until you got a look at them from the back. Perhaps the standout look in the show, however, was a cocktail dress of red and rust—the skirt featured an overlay of rust-colored, semi-transparent micro-pleats, which revealed the red silk below in different ways as the dress moved. The cut was conventional but done with exceptional refinement. You could imagine that dress on almost anyone—it was ageless and timeless. And that's the winning flip side to Theallet's lack of flash: All the clothes here seemed destined to endure.
11 February 2013
Last Spring, Sophie Theallet asserted "sexual tension" as a guiding theme of her collection. This time out, sexual tension went unmentioned by the designer, but it didn't go unexplored. Using the symbolism of a dragonfly as a way to express sense of self, Theallet designed for a woman who, she explained after the show, knows who she is and does what she likes. And for the most part, that attitude was reflected in Theallet's elegantly layered ensembles—eclectic combinations of fitted button-downs, vivid intarsia knits, and organza palimpsest dresses with frayed edges. But a few looks indicated that one thing this season's Theallet woman likes is sex: Her column dresses with razor-thin racerbacks, for instance, made a confident statement of sexuality, though they were anything but crass.The dragonfly theme was overt: Theallet made a dragonfly pattern that appeared in knits and as a print, and her filmy organzas were layered against each other to create iridescent, winglike effects. Elsewhere, she played diaphanous games with pleated chiffon that gathered about the body then took flight. As usual for Theallet, palette and pattern were strong elements—pop colors were set against new versions of her signature bohemian prints, these astutely colored in souk tones of turquoise and ocher. The shapes felt familiar, too—the dominant silhouette was Theallet's tried-and-true full skirt—but that wasn't a bad thing. Like her muse this season, Theallet knows who she is, and this season, in more ways than one, she did what she likes.
10 September 2012
Sophie Théallet's Fall muse sounded like a fun girl. "She's an aristocratic woman of today," the designer explained. "She was disowned by her family because she was eccentric." Théallet's millennial Edie Beale (sans cats, you hope) is ruined but still has the wherewithal—"education," as she put it—to be resplendent, spending her tiny pension on fashion, while forgoing the heat in her decaying mansion.It might suffer from neglect, but that proud house was the source of the collection's main print—a Victorian-ish wallpaper motif that gave things a welcome tilt toward the bohemian side of Théallet's oeuvre. The pattern was actually at its best when laid on thick, layered up in fab intarsia knits and satins in slightly off-kilter, mismatched colors. But Théallet is all about dueling forces. Her counterpoint to the soft and eclectic came in big gestures, like the va-va-voom red satin dresses, and small ones: a skinny line of red piping on a rich gold-flecked chocolate cloque party frock. The shock of red satin straps you saw when a sugary dotted ivory chiffon halter dress turned the corner could qualify as medium. Nonetheless, Théallet sets out her work to create the necessary tension that keeps prettiness from boring you, and mostly succeeds.In the end, Théallet admitted that her can-do muse was a bit closer to her heart than she originally let on. "It's also a metaphor for when you have a fashion brand and you don't have all the resources," she said. "But I am eclectic and I have education and I do the best I can."
13 February 2012