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Olivier Theyskens presented the debut Spring 2027 Ready-to-Wear collection for Boloria in Paris on July 5, the eve of Paris Haute Couture Week. The show introduced the first fashion house backed by We Are One World, the Belgian entertainment group behind the Tomorrowland festivals. Boloria was first announced last November. Two years in development, the label pairs Theyskens’ tailoring background with a music and lifestyle company making its first move into fashion.
Photographer Willy Vanderperre shot Boloria’s first campaign months before the show. The images were black and white and showed models in structured suits set against bare wooden furniture. Faces were often left concealed. The brand described the campaign as a prelude, meant to establish a mood ahead of the collection itself. Vanderperre has also shot campaigns for Raf Simons and other Belgian designers. In its mission statement, Boloria described its outlook as one of “sensitivity, integrity, and emotional resonance.”
We Are One World chose the name Boloria, not Theyskens. He later learned it refers to a subspecies of brush-footed butterfly, first identified by entomologists in 1899. Several details in the collection echoed that idea, from a squared-off pump outsole that juts out slightly to a lace skirt with short, uneven rows of beads along its hem. The serif font used on the clothing label took months to finalise and carries an academic weight.
At a preview appointment on Saturday ahead of the show, Theyskens laid out original sketches next to technical drawings and fabric swatches. Satins sat beside tweeds, while silks appeared alongside a fabric called “Korean air” and lace in tawny tones, black and white, in what one reviewer called “gorgeous compositions.” Textures varied from piece to piece, moving between glossy, structured finishes and softer, matte ones. Womenswear moved between androgynous suiting and gowns cut from satin or bias silk.
The show opened with dark, bulging gowns. The shape recalled styles Theyskens sent down runways in the late 1990s, the same period that caught Madonna’s attention. He called these opening looks a surrealist moment, describing them as an allegory of dreams. Young male models followed, draped in fabric as if they had pulled bedsheets along with them. The tailoring that followed balanced structure with slouch. Upturned cuffs, rolled hems and metallic pocket squares gave a jaunty edge. The space was darkened and filled with fog rising from black boxes placed around the runway.
Theyskens trained at the La Cambre school in Brussels and launched his own label in 1997. He built his name after Madonna wore one of his designs to the Academy Awards in 1998. He put his own brand on hold in 2002 to lead Rochas, then moved on to Nina Ricci in Paris and Theory in New York, later reviving his own label in 2016. The MoMu museum in Antwerp staged a retrospective of his work in 2017. He has designed costumes for Mylène Farmer’s 2024 Nevermore tour and created looks for Lady Gaga and Caroline Polachek. Speaking about Boloria, he said he pictured the everyday life of the people who might wear it, drawing on the 1920s, the 1940s, the 1960s and the 1970s, then asked how to translate that mixture into clothing today. He also said he knew little about Tomorrowland before the partnership began. That changed once he met Michiel and Manu Beers, the brothers behind We Are One World, whose approach to storytelling and craft aligned with his own.
Tomorrowland was founded in 2005 in the Belgian town of Boom, near Antwerp. Boloria operates out of We Are One World’s headquarters in Antwerp, where nearly 400 staff work across music, media and lifestyle projects linked to Tomorrowland. Theyskens has said working from the shared Antwerp headquarters has energised him. He has spoken about wanting to prove there is room for Belgian luxury built on humility and refinement. One line circulating after the show summed up the look as The Row meets Rimbaud, luxurious and romantic.
We Are One World built its business on music festivals before moving into fashion with Boloria. Theyskens pointed to shared ground between the two sides, both invested in craftsmanship and long-term storytelling. We Are One World reported sales of 244 million euros in 2024, according to Belgian company filings. Boloria’s collection put its focus on tailoring, fabric, and detail. For a designer who spent three decades shaping other houses, this collection carries his name from the ground up. It is the first time since 1997 that Theyskens has built a house around his name from its opening show.
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