Ensemble

Olivier Theyskens

spring/summer 1999 · (a) wool, synthetic fiber, horsehair, metal; (b) wool, metal · Costume Institute

The trompe l'oeil effect of the blonde hair embroidered on the back of the jacket gives this woolen suit an enigmatic eroticism typical for the signature of Belgian designer Olivier Theyskens. Surreal and uncanny, it at once summons up visions of youthful maidens with angelic white wavy hair, as well as more morbid associations with the abject, defined by Julia Kristeva as "something rejected from which one does not part, something which does not respect borders, positions and rules. The in-between, the ambiguous, the composite." The suit blends Surrealist and Gothic impulses into a composition that balances between Eros and Thanatos, the life and death instincts.

Artist

Olivier Theyskens

Date

spring/summer 1999

Medium

(a) wool, synthetic fiber, horsehair, metal; (b) wool, metal

Culture

Belgian

Department

Costume Institute

Credit line

Purchase, Friends of The Costume Institute Gifts, 2020