Sunday, March 17, 2013

Balenciaga: Together Now





Not to say the Balenciaga is together but it is more together than what I expected after the surprising departure of Nicolas Ghesquieres. I think we can all admit we were expecting for Alexander Wang to fail at his first Balenciaga show. The thought of what a streetwear New York designer would do to a historic Spaniard fashion house was a bit nerve wreaking but at the same time he does come with a good back ground of tailoring and workmanship of parson.

For his first collection this was bit of a different take of what we are used to seeing from the Balenciaga house, I guess new director a new take and younger take for sure. Wang is mostly known for his knits, sweaters and flowing tops, yet we saw something different at the Balenciaga runway. It was his clothes and obviously his design but more grown up. Maybe because he understand this is for an older customer but there was something different. There was the noticeable Cristobal Balenciaga influence with the cut of the clothes, specially the dresses but there was also some Margela going on with the texture of the clothes. If we go back a couple seasons we can really see some of the Margela influence, especially with the cracked painted leather jacket.

The hit of the collection were some wearable pieces, but surprisingly the boots really caught any fashion goers eye. The boots that were shown at the beginning and they are some cool boots, I know those velvet one will definitely get some street exposure. Something not only his younger customer will gravitate to but also his Balenciaga customer. One thing is for sure; we will see more of Wang’s design hit more red carpet events and dinner benefits than before.

I’m not going to sit here and bash Wang for playing it a bit safe with his first collection for the fashion house, but it was a very safe take compared to what Ghesquieres used to do. We have to remember this is a new designer so new esthetic, we will have to learn with Wang, but the question is if he will learn with the European market?





 




































Photo Credit: Style.com, Balenciaga

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