Ensemble

spring/summer 1999

Not on view

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.

Artwork Details

Overview

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Title: Ensemble
Designer: Olivier Theyskens (Belgian, born 1977)
Date: spring/summer 1999
Culture: Belgian
Medium: (a) wool, synthetic fiber, horsehair, metal; (b) wool, metal
Credit Line: Purchase, Friends of The Costume Institute Gifts, 2020
Object Number: 2020.204a, b
Curatorial Department: The Costume Institute

More Artwork

By Olivier Theyskens

From the same time and place

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Ensemble, Olivier Theyskens Belgian, (a, b) silk, metal; (c, d) leather, metal, Belgian — Ensemble
Olivier Theyskens
spring/summer 1999

Ensemble, Olivier Theyskens Belgian, (a) cotton, jet, metal; (b) silk, jet, mother-of-pearl; (c) leather, synthetic fiber, metal; (d, e) leather, plastic, Belgian — Ensemble
Olivier Theyskens
spring/summer 1998

Ensemble, Olivier Theyskens Belgian, (a) linen, plastic, cotton, metal; (b) linen, metal; (c, d) leather, Belgian — Ensemble
Olivier Theyskens
fall/winter 1999–2000

"Fleurs Fanées", Olivier Theyskens Belgian, silk, Belgian — "Fleurs Fanées"
Olivier Theyskens
spring/summer 2022

Ensemble, Olivier Theyskens Belgian, (a) silk, (b) silk, (c, d) silk, (e) silk, (f, g) silk, metal, plastic, (h, i) leather, silk, Belgian — Ensemble
Olivier Theyskens
fall/winter 2000–01

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