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
