Paris Fashion Week: Industrial-Chic at Nicolas Andreas Taralis Spring 2011

Day 1 of Paris Fashion Week was a tribute to emerging, little-known talent and highly conceptual collections, shunning established trends from New York, London, and Milan. Sometimes challenging and altogether fascinating, it's the perfect kick-off to nine days of extravagant fashion in the most creative of the fashion capitals.

But already, familiar Parisian fashion sites are being rendered unrecognizable. The invite to Nicolas Andreas Taralis' Spring 2011 runway show may have said Palais de Tokyo, but the art space looked more like a Berlin nightclub from the 1980s, concrete bunker-style. Fittingly, Taralis presented a collection of starkly monochrome, industrial looks; rather than presenting a vision of spring, Taralis (who disappeared after a spell at Cerruti in 2007 only to return last season under his own name) used his second namesake collection to further establish his own dark, moody aesthetic.

It's familiar territory mined by Rick Owens, Ann Demeulemeester, and, going further back, Yohji Yamamoto in the nineties, and Taralis will need to push the envelope in order to become a real superstar; the vaguely gothic leftfield is crowded enough as is, and Taralis desperately needs to find his own signature. Sexuality and suggestion seem to be a running theme, with sheer capes and blouses leaving little to the imagination, flyaway fishtail hems, and male models sporting very flouncy A-line skirts. Traditional garments came undone with low, V-shaped open backs, square mesh jigsaw panels, rips at the hips, and unraveling suspender straps--a pair of carrot pants in a patchwork of mesh and black silks was alluringly strong, but his vaporous sheers and cut-out tops led to more literal forms of exposure. (Need we say more about the opening look, little more than a tulle mini and artfully placed hair?) Many looks featured distressed black fabrics dyed and bleached into a sort of industrial floral; when this standout print was paired with his impeccable suiting and hand tailoring, it made for the perfect juxtaposition of hard-edged, mechanical masculinity vs. more feminine glamour.

It's a dichotomy Taralis should continue to explore--he's absurdly talented, and while we adore his bleak, black explorations, he deserves to be seen as more than a derivative.

Photos: style.com