Romanced on a bed of roses? I can't imagine a lovelier way to present a Spring 2012 collection. With Goddess Chloris as a muse, designer Don O'Neill showed a meticulous collection of gowns and the debut of the Theia day dress line.
Chloris was the Goddess of flowers. For Theia, this mean light, petal-like transparency. This inspiration was also translated into high tech digitally printed floral fabrics to hand-embroidered blooms on bodices. A dimensional technique rarely produced in modern textiles was incorporated into an all-over gown.
The day dresses included flattering seaming, prints, a sorbet color palette, as well as black and white. Another innovative technique was Mr. O'Neill's use of laser-cut paillettes. Instead of hard, shiny sequins, fabric was laser-cut into delicate, soft shapes embroidered onto cocktail dresses and gowns. This resulted in an elaborately textured dress without the heavy weight of typical beads and jewels.
There were gowns of Theia's signature "crunchy" sequins (a mix of over 10 tonal colors giving a rich, dimensional effect), and light-radiating crystal embroidery. No wonder the siren call of Theia has attracted the likes of Gossip Girl's Leighton Meester (she wore a Theia wedding gown), Taylor Swift and Emmy Rossum.
The designer gave the Ms. FAB team an exclusive interview to describe his work on this season's collection and access to the full show:
photos by Mariana Leung, video by Nicholas Waickman
