Theyskens confirmed at Nina Ricci - updated

[ultramarine]

Hum ...

The thing that interests me the most about this new is about Nilsson getting fired AGAIN! What´s up with this? I remember waay back with all the hype when he´d design for Bill Blass and I kinda liked what he did for Ricci and then he gets the boot? Awful!

About Theyskens .. he´s super young .. I'd understand if he takes the Ricci stint .. though I´d much much prefer to see him design his own stuff (back on the era when M. Manson and Madge and Auf der Maur where wearing his fierce stuff)

 

[clay]

^ Yes, Nina Ricci is so "uninteresting and old" in my eyes:-P. I just can't imagine anyone around their 20s and 30s wearing NR. But I haven't seen anything NR from a long time, tho.

Remember nobody gave a rats a-s about Gucci 13 years ago, or Prada 18 years ago, or YSL 8 years ago, even Givenchy before Hubert retired. Yes they all existed had history blah, blah, blah, but nobody young really cared. Then came Tom, Mui and Alber/Tom/Alber.

Gucci had not been cool, cool since the 70's before Tom, unless you loved all
Hip hop fake sh-t that happened in the 80's.So anything is Possible with Nina Ricci and the right designer and the right time.

 

[clay]

RE: LArs being fired

Unfortunately getting fired is not a big a deal as it sounds in the fashion industry cause its all about money and chemistry.You may be the best designer around and if a company :
A) can save money
b) can make more money
c) can save and make more money
d) does not like you personally or you have a problem with a powerful person
regardless if you are doing well for them.
e) just wants to shake things up and get a new person

YOUR *** IS FIRED. CYA. DONT LET THE DOOR NOB HIT YA WHERE THE LORD SPLIT YA.

 

[Caffeine]

I don't think Olivier is capable of heading Chanel at this moment. Chanel is a huge operation and needs lots of managerial skills in addition to design skills. Olivier has been working for smaller scale houses, and he is young. It takes time for him to establish his fame and power in teh industry to work at Chanel.
Nina Ricci is really not a bad choice IMHO. It provides the resources Olivier needs, and it's going to teach him a lot on running business. Like people have said, Ricci doesn't have a very strong heritage so there are things that could be changed. Olivier can totally add his own style to this house. If I were Olivier, resources and flexibility are the two things I'd be look at, and obviously Nina Ricci is able to and willing to offer both. Afterall, what other options does he have?

 

[clay]

I don't think Olivier is capable of heading Chanel at this moment. Chanel is a huge operation and needs lots of managerial skills in addition to design skills. Olivier has been working for smaller scale houses, and he is young. It takes time for him to establish his fame and power in teh industry to work at Chanel.
Nina Ricci is really not a bad choice IMHO. It provides the resources Olivier needs, and it's going to teach him a lot on running business. Like people have said, Ricci doesn't have a very strong heritage so there are things that could be changed. Olivier can totally add his own style to this house. If I were Olivier, resources and flexibility are the two things I'd be look at, and obviously Nina Ricci is able to and willing to offer both. Afterall, what other options does he have?

Good point Caffeine

 

[clay]

Someone asked about Paco Rabanne being closed, is that true??

 

[droogist]

^ Not exactly; for a moment there were rumours, but it turned out they were "restructuring" their apparel division, rather than shutting it down entirely: http://www.thefashionspot.com/forums/2175730-post24.html

 

[tricotineacetat]

exactly, that was my point Lena. Someone said Nina Ricci is a fashion house with an established look and I was arguing against that. I think there is time to mold it still. Tricote, you might have said this? It might bring him creative restriction but so what?! I mean.....I think he is still so young.....yes he is an amazing designer but I think one of the good things about working for the corporation is it gives designers a good grounding in how things really need to happen. He can be as creative as he wants but if he doesn't know how to run a fashion house then it doesn't really matter. Sorry if this post doesn't make sense.

I didn't try to say that Nina Ricci already has a signature 'look', it's just that they have had a designer with relatively good media exposure (and above that as well, market acceptance) in Lars Nilsson. At Rochas, circumstances were different, I remember passing by their shop in Paris BEFORE Olivier's re-vamp and it was basically all old, stuffy, grandma style...nothing you'd ever find exposed in magazines or any other media. Olivier could freely re-interpret Rochas as there was literally nothing, except from the lace-covered "Madame Rochas" perfume box and some old, boned underskirts and corsetry... abpve all, it was a FRESH start at the house.

Maybe I am being mistaken, but Marcel Rochas really was an innovator in his craft, pioneering the full-skirted hourglass silhouette years before Christian Dior came up with it. On the contrary, after having made some investigations myself, I couldn't find anything that can be interpreted as a distinct Nina Ricci feature... she really wasn't an innovator than, let's say, a Madame Grès, a Madeleine Vionnet or Coco Chanel that established a very distinct code of dressing that was entirely 'theirs'... the house doesn't stand for anything except from 2nd row party clothes and tea party skirtsuits, it's 'shallow' just like Loris Azzaro is as a house. Well, at least that's what I am thinking.

 

[Meg]

Well then all the more room for Olivier to make his mark on it. I'm sure Olivier will find some beautiful things in the archives. And as a designer sometimes that is what one has to do, to create something from nothing. Even if there is not a specific item that nina ricci created, there is still an aesthetic that Olivier can develop.

 

[nqth]

^ Not exactly; for a moment there were rumours, but it turned out they were "restructuring" their apparel division, rather than shutting it down entirely: http://www.thefashionspot.com/forums/2175730-post24.html

Thanks for clearing it :-)

 

[nqth]

Remember nobody gave a rats a-s about Gucci 13 years ago, or Prada 18 years ago, or YSL 8 years ago, even Givenchy before Hubert retired. Yes they all existed had history blah, blah, blah, but nobody young really cared. Then came Tom, Mui and Alber/Tom/Alber.

Gucci had not been cool, cool since the 70's before Tom, unless you loved all
Hip hop fake sh-t that happened in the 80's.So anything is Possible with Nina Ricci and the right designer and the right time.

Yes, NR could be the next big thing. But remember Rochas? Nobody gave them a chanc, then when everybody started talking about it, they shut it down.

A good designer is just half the success. They must develop a good bussiness side. Bags, wallets, shoes, perfumes, (NR has a good one decades ago), daywear, not just gowns, gowns and gowns.

It's Tom Ford and Domenico De Sole at Gucci, Miucia Prada and Berteli at Prada...

I hope that Olivier will find a good solution for the house, after the Rochas's experience.

Ditto, Tricot, I've also tried to recall NR look but found nothing.

 

[Scott]

Contrary to what was said about Olivier himself,doesn't NR have a rather conservative/stuffy repuatation? And will he have similar creative freedom as Rochas? The great thing about Rochas was that he spoke volumes to a melange of people...youn or old...whatever their taste,really. Can that ever be attempted at NR with the kind of rep they have? Because,with Nilsson it always seemed really limited to the older,upper-crust set....I could never imagine NR on women in their 20's as it wouldmake one look too matured.

Before it's said,though,I know Rochas was stuffy too but it also wasn't active as a fashion house before Theyskens but NR has been for a while--just under the radar.

 

[Meg]

People keep saying NR is old and stuffy but under Nilsson I disagree.

Here are some pics of NR's latest stuff on celebs (as I don't have pics of real people wearing it!)

Kate Beckinsale:

Getty

Dita Von Teese (in the same dress I think
sorry dita pic is too big
Gossiprocks

Not the best example but....Anne Hathaway:

Getty

Sanaa Lathan and Gabrielle Union in my two fav. NR from this season (both were sold on NAP

momist.com

 

[Meg]

Elisha Cuthbert

Getty

okay, I'm not pro NR but I thought we should have some pics out there of the latest collection on people.

 

[rive gauche]

Not official yet, but I can confirm from a very good source that Olivier Theyskens will design Nina Ricci.
He will take with him 15 members of his former staff at Rochas.

 

[Caffeine]

^WOW, that is great. I love the fact that he is taking his men/women!
I was walking at Barneys NY the other day, and Rochas and Nina Ricci are hanging across from each other. I was thinking if Nina Ricci going to move to current Rochas's location, which is more visible.

 

[softgrey]

perfumes, (NR has a good one decades ago),

l'air du temps....


that is ALL i ever knew of nina ricci back since the 70's...
it was one of the most popular perfumes of its time...
mostly i think due to the beautiful bottle with the birds on top...

every chic woman wanted to have it on her bureau or dressing table...



the commercials used to play regularly in the 70's as well...
and beautiful soft focus ads...

funny how it made SUCH an impression on me as a young girl that i still remember it so clearly today....

i am sure my mother had it displayed in her room or something...
maybe it was my grandmother...
but i remember the bottle and the ads so well..

 

[fashionologie]

it's confirmed...

from wwd:

Olivier's Next Act: Nina Ricci to Name Theyskens Today
By Miles Socha


PARIS — Olivier Theyskens won’t show his first collection for Nina Ricci until next March, but he’s eager to take on a French house that already sends his poetic imagination soaring.

Ricci will officially announce today that Theyskens is its new artistic director, effective Nov. 1. This confirms an exclusive WWD report on Aug. 30 that he was zeroing in on a Ricci deal. Theyskens succeeds Lars Nilsson, who resigned last month for personal reasons, with plans to return to the United States.

Terms of the contract were not disclosed, but Mario Grauso, president of Puig Fashion Group, said the firm sees large growth potential given Theyskens’ design prowess. Grauso plans to expand Ricci’s market profile with select flagships, a new shop-in-shop concept and eventual expansion into new product categories and possibly price tiers.

For his part, Theyskens declined to give any hints of what might come down the Ricci runway come Paris Fashion Week next spring, but he promised designs consistent with a brand that is “synonymous with beautiful refinement.”

“For quite a while, I had a feeling there were quite a few values in this brand which are common to me, too,” he said. “We are speaking about a symbol of refinement, grace and femininity and also an idea of freedom. These are a few very inspiring things.”

In his first interview since Proctor & Gamble shuttered the Rochas fashion business last July, Theyskens told WWD he understood the corporate logic of that decision, while staunchly defending his three-year stint at the house, which earned wide acclaim, if not commercial traction.

Looking rested, happy and full of energy, the 29-year-old fashion wunderkind said he has already moved on from the setback at Rochas and is eager to enter a new chapter — or perhaps something bigger — in his career.

“I sometimes have the feeling of opening a new opus in life,” he said with a laugh.

Dressed in a thin gray T-shirt, white pants and suede sneakers, his long black hair in a ponytail, Theyskens talked in an animated fashion about Ricci.

“I’m totally excited about it. I’m very happy. It’s an honor,” he said. “I would like to see it become a symbol of beauty, of femininity and grace. I want to make it a brand with true values, an iconic brand. And I want to have a lot of girls fall in love with it!”

 

[fashionologie]

While Theyskens has a cursory knowledge of the Ricci house, founded in 1932 and acquired by Spain’s Puig family in 1997, he said many elements speak to him, from its famous and perennially successful L’Air du Temps fragrance — “I love the bottle,” he enthused — to the fact that its founder was female.

“I am a true fan of French fashion. Also, I love to evolve,” the Belgian designer said. “It’s very interesting for me to be in a house where the name is from a woman. I like it. It’s intriguing and inspiring. It’s what I do: work on femininity.”

While Theyskens describes himself as someone who sketches “all the time,” he said he is primarily at the conceptual stages in defining his vision for Ricci. “My mind is working. I am a very sensitive person, a very intuitive person…I have to make a lot of room for that.”

His immediate priority at Ricci will be ready-to-wear, but his role as artistic director will give him purview over perfumes as well.

Given that Ricci just had a major fragrance launch — the romantic and youth-oriented Nina scent, housed in an apple-shaped flacon — Theyskens’ input won’t be required immediately. But with a new Ricci scent scheduled for 2008, the designer relishes the opportunity. “The perfume world is very inspiring for me,” he said.

Theyskens is also keen to conceive and direct an advertising campaign, something he has yet to do. Although collaborators have yet to be defined, the Ricci spots will be seen in September 2007 magazines, Grauso said.

Breaking his silence about the closure of Rochas for the first time, Theyskens spoke in calm, measured tones. “Personally, I’m very sad that such a brand with such a name disappears so suddenly from the fashion scene,” he said. “At the same time, I did everything I could to show them it was not the thing to do.”

But Theyskens added he understood that P&G, specialists in fast-moving consumer goods, was not interested in, nor focused on, the luxury fashion business and thus made a “very pragmatic” decision to concentrate on its Rochas beauty holdings. “I understand totally they have their own reasons,” he said.

 

[fashionologie]

Still, the designer described his Rochas years as a “rich” experience, during which he learned to work with larger teams and discovered the incomparable quality and savoir faire of French clothing ateliers.

In the wake of the Rochas closure, some observers suggested the brand did not move beyond a niche positioning and was focused too heavily on extravagant and expensive eveningwear.

Theyskens countered that his initial concentration on an exclusive product was deliberate but that his fashion offering had in fact become much wider. Unfortunately, P&G did not have the “skills and expertise” to turn it quickly into a financial success, he said.

“It was a brand that came from zero to become one with one of the biggest potentials for the future,” Theyskens asserted.

To be sure, the designer was a darling of retailers, Hollywood royalty and legions of editors, who praised his ethereal gowns and slouchy pantsuits. Earlier this year, he was bestowed the International Award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America.

Born in Brussels, Theyskens leaped onto the international fashion scene in 1998 at age 21 when he dressed Madonna in a striking black satin coat with hook-and-eye closures for the Oscars, and she anointed him her new favorite designer. He was immediately dubbed a Goth hero and a rising star, considered a front-runner to succeed Alexander McQueen at Givenchy in 2001. Instead, Theyskens joined Rochas in 2003, putting his signature collection on hiatus.

In an interview Friday, Grauso disclosed he’s had his eye on Theyskens for many years, impressed by not only his theatrical and powerful runway shows — long a highlight of Paris Fashion Week — but also his wide-screen brand vision that produced “beautiful, creative and real clothes.”

Grauso said Theyskens would be given creative freedom to express himself on the runway and that rtw would be the immediate priority, but “Olivier sees a lot of categories, and we’ll let him tell us where he wants to go.”

Theyskens arrives at a profitable fashion house and one with strong momentum. Grauso declined to give figures but said rtw sales had “more than doubled” in the past three years. The Ricci collection is sold in about 50 U.S. doors and about 100 in Europe and Asia, Grauso said. Puig’s key retail partners in America include Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Barneys New York and Bergdorf Goodman.