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Olivier Theyskens: ‘I Put Myself Mentally in the Place of Girls’

Theyskens and his eyeliner-free model.
Theyskens and his eyeliner-free model. Photo: Fernanda Calfat/Getty Images

Olivier Theyskens is known for putting himself in his customers’ shoes — after all, this is the designer who tried on his own high heel designs to make sure women could walk in them. But of course, he doesn’t imagine himself as just any girl: “It’s more like me as I imagine I would like my clothes to be if I was a cool girl,” he tells Into the Gloss. “Would I want to dress like that? Would I like to wear that jacket?” This philosophy extends into the realm of makeup, too —  Theyskens used to wear a lot of black eyeliner, but once “guyliner” became a thing, he lost interest; you’ll see that models in his recent runway shows were spared eyeliner as well (perhaps they owe Pete Wentz a thank-you note). His hairstylist, Odile Gilbert, sums this up: “Oliver has very strong opinions about how the girls should look … he’d like for them to look like him.” 

Olivier Theyskens Imagines Himself As a Girl