PARIS, Mar 6, 2011 /FW/- In a stark and dimly lit room, stripped down to its bare cement, Toronto-born Nicolas Andreas Taralis presented his fall 2011 collection to music that transitioned from sounds heard in a monastery to heavy metal. This dark and foreboding setting suit the gothic, sexualized nature of the clothing, which, doing what he does best, the half-Greek half-German fashion designer perfectly balanced with a period-inspired romanticism.
Taralis studied at parsons and served such stints as assistant to Hedi Slimane at Dior Homme before being made creative director of Italian fashion house Cerruti in 2006 at a very young age. Re-launching his own line just last year, his style is recognized as the ideal balance between elegance and hard-core: chic but tough. His sharp tailoring of modern street wear reminds people of Helmut Lang.
Pale male models with red colored lips appeared as civil war soldiers dressed in their Victorian-cut vests and blazers that were given copper splatters made to look like blood. The same stains appeared on the women’s boyfriend shirts with slits rising right up the hip. Cuts were revealing, but not vulgar.
This violent approach always received a romantic touch, in the form of frilled collars on the males and Lady Marian style sheer long flowing dresses. One received the impression that the collection was inspired by the current vampire culture: bloody charisma, the white virgin.
[MEGAN LEAHY]
photos by Megan Leahy
Paris Pret-a-porter Fall 2011
