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PARIS - With feathers in his models' hair and a misty landscape of the Tuileries gardens as a backdrop, a thirty-year-old Belgian designer yesterday breathed new life into the Nina Ricci brand, a label more famous for its fragrances than for fashion.
Olivier Theyskens' first outing for the house used the lightest touch imaginable for bias-cut pale grey silk slip dresses with exposed seams that artfully frayed, fluffy sweater dresses and shoes with heels that looked like carved ice.
It set a promisingly romantic tone for the latest revival of the 75-year-old house.
But this show was also a fresh start for Theyskens, a critically acclaimed young designer who has not yet found solid commercial success.
Until last July the much-tipped Theyskens had been head designer at Rochas, another historic French house.
But its owners Proctor & Gamble closed the brand's fashion operation after it failed to be as profitable as its fragrance interests.
Theyskens, who is a favourite of the powerful editor of US Vogue Anna Wintour, was then hired to the top job at Nina Ricci, owned by the Spanish Puig Fashion Group, which also has Carolina Herrera and Paco Rabanne in its stable.
Womenswear collections had been revived at Nina Ricci under the Swedish designer Lars Nilsson since 2003, but he resigned last August citing personal reasons.
Such is the game of musical chairs that began a decade ago when luxury goods groups began buying up moribund fashion brands and installing bright young designers at their helms - with mixed results.
Theyskens's otherworldly collections have received critical acclaim since he first made his name ten years ago as a fashion-school drop out who was picked by Madonna to dress her for the red carpet in gothic gowns.
But unlike John Galliano at Dior, for instance, he has not yet parlayed his romantic aesthetic into commercial success.
A criticism often cited during his tenure at Rochas was that prices were too high and collections focussed too heavily on dramatic evening gowns.
Yesterday, a high proportion of wearable knitwear, tailored trouser suits and even jeans suggests Theyskens is mindful of that.
He has also made a "handshake" agreement with actress Reese Witherspoon that she will only wear Nina Ricci for red-carpet appearances.
Ahead of yesterday's official debut, Witherspoon previewed an elegant lemon-yellow dress at the Golden Globes earlier this year.
- INDEPENDENT
