Olivier Theyskens returns with Boloria
For the spring/summer 2027 debut show of his new brand Boloria, Olivier Theyskens channelled a new wave of neo-Gothic romanticism into a timely and delectably dark return to the runway. EE72 Fashion Critic Anders Christian Madsen reviews the show.
In recent years, a new wave of dark romanticism has washed over fashion and entertainment. Bolstered by remakes of Nosferatu and Frankenstein, as well as Charli XCX’s haunting Wuthering Heights soundtrack, neo-Gothic energy has mainly materialised off the runway where a young generation of women is embracing Victoriana with a level of gloss we haven’t seen since Olivier Theyskens’ collections for Nina Ricci in the late 2000s. So, the time was ripe for the Belgian master’s big-stage return.
On the eve of the fall/winter 2026 haute couture shows, it came by way of Boloria: a new Belgian fashion brand founded by the organisers of the Tomorrowland music festival and styled by the Belgian super stylist Olivier Rizzo, who also works for the likes of Prada. Boloria is the Latin taxonomic name for a genus of fritillary butterflies. Theyskens said he’d always thought it would be a good name for a fashion house.
It’s a sense of emotion. I wanted the collection to be full of contrasts. It’s between dream and reality
Olivier Theyskens
The show was staged in a blacked-out Lycée Carnot where smoke was pumped into three large glass vitrines as models clad in black and grey sauntered down a mile-long runway. The new dark romantics couldn’t have asked for more. “It’s a sense of emotion. I wanted the collection to be full of contrasts. It’s between dream and reality,” a softly spoken Theyskens said after the show, his elfin face still framed by the long black hair that gave him one of fashion’s signature looks.
“It starts with a sequence, which is a dream: the big gowns were allegories of space and emotion, like a dream that’s going beyond the real dimension,” he explained, referring to the black ballgowns that opened the show. “And then, you wake up.” What followed the couture-volume dream was a series of dandies styled with louche, gothic flair. They were dressed in classic tailoring and dressing gowns that seemed to be gliding off their bodies, like a flIâneurs with one foot still in the boudoir, their silk-lined trousers tucked into their socks.
The big gowns were allegories of space and emotion, like a dream that’s going beyond the real dimension. And then, you wake up
Olivier Theyskens
The fabrics looked exquisite: delicate, sheer, silky. “It’s like these looks were about to leave their apartment,” Theyskens said. “They could be in the ‘40s, ‘20s, ‘70s… we don’t really know.” For women, he translated it into Katharine Hepburn-esque ankle-length tweed skirt suits worn with ties, before the silhouette transformed into black coat dresses, draped, knitted gowns and oscillating long-sleeved silk dresses.
The Boloria debut show felt timely and relevant, not just for its dark romanticism, but as a concise, conceptual brand that clearly has stories to tell in a fashion moment where all-important storytelling often drowns in flood-the-zone runway presentations of too many ideas and too much product. For those of us who never got to see one of Theyskens’ Nina Ricci shows with our own eyes, it was also a little bit of a treat.
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