FLASH FASHION: Sexy, Spanish, Safe At Sophie Theallet

by Justin Fenner | 3:16 pm, September 15th, 2010

Sophie Theallet started her last spring runway presentation off with a bang — and a full-length gown. So we were expecting something spectacular at the start of her spring 2011 show, held in The Box at Lincoln Center.

What we got was two little white dresses.

The models walked out to a soundtrack of songs entirely in Spanish, interspersed with audio recordings from Spanish-language films. After a few turns on the stage (the girls walked onto one platform, then into a big pink box, and then out onto another platform before heading out of sight ), it wasn’t hard to see the flamenco-drenched sensibility that informed most of Theallet’s clothes. There were the shirts with full sleeves or ruffled collars, the trim skirts in vibrant solid covers and the embroidery that so resembled traditional matador costumes we half expected a bull to come charging into the room at any moment.

But for all the fiery Latin inspiration, the collection seemed safe. There were as many completely solid outfits (a lovely yet boring lavender silk coat and a khaki shirt-and-trousers look come to mind) as there were printed dresses and lace overlays.

And speaking of lace overlays, the finale dress, a gorgeous white gown covered in detailed silver filigree, was so beautiful that it got whistles from the crowd. But we weren’t entirely sure that the show was over — we didn’t see Theallet come out and bow — so when the lights came up, many attendees remained standing in the box. After Cathy Horyn of The New York Times grabbed her bag and strolled out, people started clapping and filed out after her.

You are seeing this message because you have javascript disabled. To use our slideshows you need to enable javascript. There's no cross domain hackery or tracking voodoo, it's just some sweet jQuery animations. Please, think of the animations.