Monday, February 1, 2010

Josephus Thimister: The Emperor Nicholas II's new clothes...


This collection was inspired by the 13 year old Tsarevitch Alexei, the murdered son of Russian Emperor Nicholas II. The military themed collection, the first for Thimister in 10 years, drew heavily on the uniforms the young Tsarevitch wore as a child before the assassination of the Russian royal family. Blood stained shirts and pants under Great coats and beautifully tailored military-styled jackets for both men and women opened the collection. It was an unorthodox theme with a mix of genders but a compelling one all the same.

Lots of military greens and rich bright reds were only rarely broken up with snow colored white and silver. The jackets were pure pre -World War I. Many in duchesse satin and wool. The cut was very strict and shaped through the waist with a strong clear shoulder. The fact that so many men were scattered among the women on the run way was a novel approach. The splattered blood effect was less appealing and the abundance of Korean War issue flight jumpsuits were jarring to the overall theme. I found it confusing and so idiosyncratic that much of the effort was lost on me. Couture has bled into so many interpretations, many of which have nothing to do with the rules of the near past. Well that's progress, I guess.

One can't help but wonder if some of these collections are more for the sake of the designer than for the client. There were a few pieces near the end that were quite beautiful for a woman but in the long and short of it, I couldn't help but think that the guys made out far better than the girls.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

What an amazing menswear collection from Thimister! I loved the coats and I can't wait to buy the stuff at Bergdorf.... Oh, right...it's Haute Couture. Darn.

Anonymous said...

That collection was terrible. Based on the hype, I really hoped for something...got nothing.

brooksie

Casey said...

That's morbid.....especially the blood splattering. I might have actually walked out of the show if I had been there.