Balenciaga S/S 09 Paris

[KiroTV]

Some of these pieces (particularly the first few ones) can either make you look good or make you look like you're wearing a straitjacket. I'm kind of torn... but I really like the jackets and most of the dresses.

[dior_couture1245]

The presentation is magnificent...it's truly stunning. The music is also beyond perfect.

I've uploaded the video to youtube-

[chloehandbags]

Nice collection, if not exactly earth shattering. I quite like the idea of the men being duds!

As others have said, I liked the detail shots better than the full length ones.

BTW, the tight-shoes and the gloved sleeves are not new ideas. I vaguely remember seeing similar before, I think it was probably in the late '80s (I can't remember who by, I'm afraid, but I remember it translated to the high street) and I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't also done before that, too (perhaps in the '60s and maybe also historically?).

[tctra]

While I love his work, it's not avante garde or revolutionary and only futuristic in the sense that its playing future. It seems Tron and 2001 are his inspirations, not just this season but in previous seasons, then all his work is is revisions of the past's concept of the future, and in that sense makes his clothes, if anything, retro.

Nothing's redifining or new for that matter. There's a familiarity to it all, and for good reason. We've seen it all before.

[BettyCooper]

^^I can accept what you're saying but then that means anyone who takes from the past is saying nothing new.

So...if someone designs a 1940's or 1930's style dress we say: "oh its beautiful!"

But when we see someone designs a 1960's concept of the future we say: "oh its been done before...star trek...yawn"

of course it has, but that doesn't mean it isn't just as valid an inspirational source as the 1940's 50's, 20's or any other style of decade.

And why does he have to say anything new?? Other designers trot out the same stuff all the time and people say its great.

it seems like people hold him to a higher standard which I guess is a good thing, because they expect great things from him. I don't know it just seems like people are always so hard on his collections

[dumbfairy]

Originally Posted by mackos

I'm affraid I'll need a lot of time to like it and I'm really not sure I will

I refrained from posting when I first saw this and on a second viewing,I still don't like it. The lighting is odd

[mrrobphilips]

Just sublime......

[Bidwell]

Betty Cooper:So

...if someone designs a 1940's or 1930's style dress we say: "oh its beautiful!"
But when we see someone designs a 1960's concept of the future we say: "oh its been done before...star trek...yawn"

I agree.
We live in a conservative retractive society where the future seems grim and scary not promising, so quaint retro is the opium needed to satisfy the masses.
Big, bold experimentation in fabric and form is just not appreciated at the moment but when it does, many more people will admit who was there first.
It may still have traces of past futurisms but his team have the will and the means to take it into unknown territory, like Chalayan, Victor Costa and McQueen (when he leaves the story books behind)

[Mutterlein]

Originally Posted by Bidwell

Betty Cooper:So


We live in a conservative retractive society where the future seems grim and scary not promising, so quaint retro is the opium needed to satisfy the masses.

Well put. Very well put.

[Anjo]

Perhaps it's redundant with my avatar mais le defile est tres cool je l'aime bien!!

I love how Nicolas G pushes himself, like an athlete, to stretch the boundaries and create new things. But working for him must be hell!

[simple_elegance]

ugh...

[Spike413]

The is straight out of Space Mountain at Disney World.

Fun stuff.

[FashionTopFace]

see thats what I always mean u cant judge a collection well by just pictures u need to see moving images with the ambiance surrounding it

ty dior

[chessmess]

Originally Posted by Spike413

I admit, the presentation is gorgeous. It reminds me a bit of Alexander McQueen's old London collections where he used so much specialty lighting to enhance the collection.

But the clothes still haven't grown on me, and I agree with what the-smiths was getting at. Innovation to enhance the clothes is great, like the LBD's of last season that were made out of foam bonded fabric so that the shape was very structural, but the dress itself wasn't heavy.

But innovation for the sake of being innovative is kind of....well, what's the point? It's not as if this brand of retro inspired futurism is new to fashion, or to Ghesquiere. And it's not as if the clothes themselves are pushing fashion forward or changing your eye because they're so radical.

When you consider where the world is right now, this comes off as a beautiful presentation and nothing more.

I think it's interesting that you are saying its not as good because we've seen it before and it's not necessarily groundbreaking... when you loved fw08 so much which, imo, seemed like a slightly altered rehash of the spring before it. The seaming details were not new, the shoulders were not new, the foam enforcing was not new, the silhouettes were not completely new... The only thing he really toyed with was fabric and accessories.

i dont know, just an observation.

[Spike413]

^ I never said last season was new either.

But it felt new. No, foam bonded fabric isn't groundbreaking, but a classic, wearable, sexy little black dress made out of foam bonded fabric is. He managed to distill all of the innovation he'd been working on and all of the futuristic ideas he'd been playing with to create and enhance clothes for the here and now, not for the 1980's interpretation of the future, and not so futuristic that it's not apparent how it relates to today.