Nicolas Ghesquiere Leaves Balenciaga

I felt like I was shot in the stomach when I read this earlier today. I was like...whaaauuuuut...I mean if I was expecting major fashion news I wouldn't be surprised to see something like 'Lagerfeld Dead. Designer slips in bath' or maybe 'Formichetti dumped by Mugler in non-shock horror'.

I know that everyone is saying this right now but I need to chime in too. Who in Egyptofunk hell is going to replace him? Alberta Ferretti? This is like Galliano and Dior where the designer has had such an incredible impact on the blueprint of the brand that the entire image has to be stripped back and re-started. For Balenciaga it's the undoing of 15 years of, Jesus Christ, real fashion.

So who will replace him? Who's unemployed right now? Hannah MacGibbon? Cedric Charlier? Nicolas should take a break, go horseback riding or scuba diving, travel a bit, get a tattoo, take drugs then come back and ghost design for Dress Barn.

*Cries in fashion*

Florabotanica: The Scent of Scandal

This coming September Balenciaga will release their new fragrance Florabotanica and it will be fronted by newly-minted cheater Kristen Stewart. If you’ve been hiding under a rock or perhaps just don’t care for celebrity garbage, Stewart has been recently photographed fooling around with director Rupert Sanders. Stewart quickly released a statement apologizing for what she’d done and also apologized to Robert Pattinson which is odd given up until this point she’d denied ever being in a relationship with him. Sanders, who’s married to ex-model Liberty Ross, followed suit and also released a statement apologizing to his wife and kids. It’s never a good time to have your dirty laundry aired to the world but Florabotanica is due for release in September and you have to wonder how poorly this will reflect on both Stewart and Balenciaga. Could this indiscretion cost her the campaign? Cast your mind back to 2005 when Kate Moss was photographed allegedly snorting lines of cocaine off a coffee table. The images spread like wildfire and Moss was quickly dropped by both Chanel and Burberry.

Balenciaga are aiming to broaden their market and cash in on a big name star like so many other brands do and Stewart is a good choice. I initially questioned if the Twilight star was appropriate considering arthouse ingénue Charlotte Gainsbourg was the face of their previous scent however Balenciaga head designer Nicholas Ghesquière says he met Stewart several years ago and describes her as a graceful and mysterious figure and that “she is the perfect embodiment of a certain idea of Balenciaga: that beauty that is both pure and uncontrollable.” Oh the irony.

Without a doubt, having her as the face is going to increase sales (an expected $40 million worldwide) or at the very least, create a strong point of interest in an oversaturated fragrance market. Catherine Walsh, senior vice president of American Fragrances for Coty Prestige hopes Florabotanica will double their fragrance business. Stewart as the face of Florabotanica not so much signals a new direction for the brand but rather aims to reach a wider market. And it’s not just in fragrance that they’re broadening their reach either. In under five years Balenciaga have skyrocketed from three stores to sixty, their latest opening on the Rue Saint-Honoré with up to seven more to be opened by the end of 2012. 

With new scents being released every week brands really need to pull out all the stops to ensure they get a best seller. Everything has to be striking. The bottle, the packaging, the advertising. It needs to pop. And getting a celebrity to front a fragrance adds another layer of interest. If you have a browse through popular social media sites you get the distinct impression that Stewart fans have never heard of Balenciaga or Nicholas Ghesquière (one fan referred to it as Kristen’s Florabotanica perfume) but it won’t stop them from buying the fragrance. One look at Twitter suggests packs of rabid KStew fans ready to fork over for the scent while others are putting it on their birthday/Christmas wish list because it is out of their price range. The 30ml eau de parfum spray alone is $65-A little pricey for those who may have bought the Immortal Twilight fragrance with a bonus shower gel for $20. No one ever said that luxury fashion isn’t aspirational and fragrance-along with sunglasses and handbags-is an entry level luxury goods item, the idea being that this will lay the ground work for a dedicated customer who will continue to buy and spend more.

So will this tarnish Balenciaga or Stewart? When Kate Moss was dumped by Chanel and Burberry it was only a matter of months before they picked her back up and she had one of her busiest campaign seasons of her career. In the case of Stewart it seems unlikely but only time will tell. Roll on September.

Altuzarra Fall 2012 Review

My opinion on Joseph Altuzarra tends to waver somewhere between awful and point of interest. I've not forgotten his dubious spring 2011 show that featured tribal snakeskin appliqué nor his penchant for liberally borrowing from his design idol Tom Ford.
However with less than ten shows under his belt his latest collection is his most accomplished. He showed military coats, cargo pants, French-style skirts and jackets, along with trimmings such as coins and pom-poms. It all sounds like a lot to juggle into one collection but there was restraint and a sense of reality to most of the pieces. He delved-rather unsuccessfully-back into velvet with a pair of flared trousers and a bottle green jacket that somehow managed to add about 20kg to the model thanks to the way it was cut to pull away from the body. Though I enjoyed most of this collection I still got whiffs of other designers work, most notably Nicolas Ghesquiere's fall 2007 collection for Balenciaga.

Get Inspired

Am I right ladies?

Balenciaga SS 2012 Review

I think you need to watch the vid on Youtube. 

The cut, the proportion Flawless. The bangles too. They looked like a sectional-like slice from a sweatshirt cuff. The wide shoulders with the tops tucked in to micro shorts that were cut to float around the body. And that was the major takeaway from this collection. The last set of dresses were unbelievable. You need to watch the video because looking at the pictures and then looking at the dresses moving is so, so different. This is real fashion. I think Ghesquiere’s last two collections have been a tad bumpy (I liked them but they were a bit flat).

Jeremy Scott Spring Summer 2012

Love Jeremy Scott. Ridiculous, unwearable yet totally wearable at a gay bar. Sure people don’t take his work seriously. He’s not Nicolas Ghesquiere but he truly understands bad taste and pushes people’s buttons while having a laugh. I mean, an appliqué flame dress is classic late 90’s trailer trash. Every scum bag had a flame print shirt in requisite polyester and a can of beer in their hand in the 90’s (and the early naughts too). And his prints are so much fun. Cacti, sunglasses. It’s totally his look and no one else can pull it off but Scott. The platform shoes with Harajuku frilly socks were cute and the question mark dresses were like totally questioning bad taste. I'm a fucking genius. ps, it's all about chaps.

A little 30 Rock should knock this collection back into shape

Punk initially appeared to be a main theme for Balenciaga mixed with traditional labour-intensive couture techniques.

It’s not obvious punk. There’s not a single stud or safety pin in sight but there is leather, grommets, houndstooth and romper stomper boots. What’s interesting is that you can pick out the punk references but the overall look is decidedly free of aggression. So it’s not really punk at all. I still don’t know what it is. The woman in this collection is strong but she’s romantic too. You just need to look for those traits.

Overall it fell a bit flat and well, a little boring. I know if I were to see these clothes in person I’d have an aneurysm because they’re so beautifully made and I love Nicolas Ghesquiere. He’s a fucking genius and a fashion legend. I would have one of these if I ever met him.

Followed by this 

The red and black plasticky houndstooth gave me flashbacks of Prada’s horrid Fall 2010 bags which is purely coincidental but nonetheless unfortunate. The shoes were designed by long-time collaborator Pierre Hardy. They were all flat Doc Marten inspired boots which were nice but I die for his heels. The collection also-unfairly in my opinion- drew comparison to Comme Des Garcons. Unfair because some people wrote it off instantly as homage but I think these conclusions were lazy and inevitable. If he’d done skulls would he have been ripping off McQueen? But perhaps the derision was earned. Ghesquiere has been known on more than one occasion to steal from other designers work.

Fucking hideous

The highlights of the show were the jackets and the shirts. The vivid blue reptile skin jackets (what the hell was that?) are going to be bestsellers. They were new yet still had a recognizable Ghesquiere silhouette with that raised shoulder. The shirts had elongated tails in the front. Ghesquiere managed to make something as informal as an untucked shirt look chic and smart. The fabrics were baffling. Were the black dots printed? Applique? The lace. Was it hand painted or done by machine? Though the collection had some bright moments, Ghesquiere got too carried away and geeked out on fabric technology. If clothes make you feel something then does it matter if it was printed, painted or machine made?

Catholic-free Givenchy

Givenchy didn’t capture my imagination this season. Like his last couture collection it lacked polish and it felt very cookie cutter Tisci. All the ingredients were there: lace, single blocks of colour for an entire outfit, loads of black and leather. But there were a few nice touches like the opening coat in a boney beige tone. There were also some beautiful tuxedo jackets and there’s been quite a few this season, United Bamboo comes to mind. I did find the layering theme interesting. If you view some of the looks you’ll see what I mean. And how weird is it that Tisci and Ghesquiere did a remarkably similar pant. They both did a high waisted version with a zip that was half undone to create these curling flaps. I didn’t find it particularly inventive but it was a nice touch and in Tisci’s case added to the layering theme he had.

I’d like to see Tisci try and move away from his usual schtick, perhaps do a tracksuit or something remotely humorous. He’s taken some steps, like removing any traces of Catholocism but it’s like come one, push yourself further, stop being so comfortable.

Balenciaga Beyond Belief

I think there's been a bit of a sag with Balenciaga lately but Fall 2010 has put Nicolas Ghesquiere back on top.
The fact that he shows clothes which defy description or category is testament to his skill. You can't simply look at his work and break it down into mere trends like you would with anything from New York or Milan. You just look at it and you want to ask, what exactly are you telling me this season? But the key to his work is to forget everything you've seen and just take it in.
So what was there? I don't even know. Bulbous coats slashed with strips of colour that was reminiscent of Spring 2010 but with backpack-like furs stamped on. A dash of hospital green and candy floss. There were jackets in a marle grey modelled by Liya Kebede, a long time favourite model of Ghesquiere that made you think of the work he was doing when he first started out. And then the shoes by long time collaborator Pierre Hardy that were a mixture of classic plus wood plus mineral.
I don't know, you just need to look at the collection and take it in. Ghesquiere is one of very few designers who are free to do what they want and really push fashion into a place that is more than mere trends, sales, editorial and especially the 'I want it now, I need it'. It's fashion. Scratch that. It's more than fashion.

BALENCIAGA SPRING 2010

Balenciaga’s spring collection had lots of black, some white, touches of orange, candy-apple green and dusty yellow.
There were some cool jackets with circular hoods that opened the show. I felt Nicolas Ghesquiere took a step back in comparison to his fall collection where he really stepped out of his sci-fi comfort zone and offered up beautifully draped silk skirts. Unfortunately the spring collection was too familiar and Ghesquiere was riffing on things he’s done before: the long sleeveless jacket, the built up shoulder, the skinny pant. There was a sexy, snug-fitting vest in black leather which had a zipper closure and a row of round leather covered buttons. Though I’m not a fan of exposed zippers ( I think that trend is dead) Ghesquiere used them as graphic devices, boldly cutting their way from shoulder to hem on an abstract cream and yellow dress. The worst look would’ve been the apple green pants with the hemp coloured vest. A top and skirt that was constructed in a way that made the model look like a magician’s assistant who’d been sliced in half and her torso was sliding off her legs was amazing. There was plenty to like and despite luke-warm reviews, there will be waiting lists for a lot of these clothes.

PROENZA SCHOULER SPRING 2010

The Spring 2010 collection from Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez of Proenza Schouler seemed fuss-free, more straight-forward and less precious than their past collections. Perhaps getting socked in the face by Keifer Sutherland forced the boys to toughen up. The collection opened with a black double breasted coat with a raised shoulder. It had a look that suggested it’d been thrown on after being rescued in a ball at the back of some dark closet. This was paired with a sports jacket skirt slung around the waist.

There was a sportiness to the collection but some pieces looked like they were picked up at Nike, the running pants with rounded inserts were no exception. There was a chic tank dress with a flappy insert tracing across the body and some grungy tie-dye long sleeve t-shirts looked great. I saw a bit of Balenciaga in those tops. It’s probably incidental but the tops and the high-shine fabrics recalled the work of Nicolas Ghesquiere. I thought maybe they were inspired by beetles with their reflective, high shine wings. It turns out scuba diving and tropical fish were the inspirations.

The shoes were amazing, accented with hot pink and yellow. They’re building a fast reputation for must-have accessories which is always an important step for a growing brand such as PS.