Alexander Wang leaving Balenciaga

[fashionkitten7]

You might think it's strange, but only today did I learn that Alexander is only 28, after seeing his picture at Vogue It Girl Vanessa-something wedding and googling for his date of birth as he looked suspiously young to me. Anyway, good luck to his with Balenciaga, I hope he will do well!

 

[AdaK]

Ok..PPR spent the last ten years building up an incredibly prestigious brand, arguably the most respected from a creative point of view.

Regardless of what they say, it can't have translated into sales, at least not the kind of sales they expected, ( otherwise, why change a formula that works?)

Neither Alexander McQueen nor YSL have sold that many clothes in the last few years if the rumours are believed, so now their strategy must be to capitalize on the amazing name of Balenciage with a product that is sure to sell and a Designer who will be hugely popular with the ever-so important Chinese market. It's actually just simple math and therefore not even as scandalous as it sounds. More than anything it's sad because it shows how fashion now works- it's about demographics, power, and product first and foremost. I suppose we just have to deal with it. The only power I personally have in all this is to vote with my wallet.

Yes. This is a smart business move.

These brands of high fashion are relatively new to China. And there's a growing generation of consumers there, modern as ever, who might very well be looking for something new rather than storied. God knows how many more brands will be adapting to gain a foothold in this market in the coming decades -- heck, the race has already begun. It's in the best interest of Balenciaga to establish a solid, accessible reputation there now before they lose ground with future buyers who aren't interested in (or are even repulsed by) the aura of couture.

 

[juzuxel]

I LOVED what Nicolas did for Balenciaga! And I will miss him but I totally understand why they chose Wang. MONEY! As said before in this thread they need more sale revenues. Wang will certainly make this happen.

What will it look like... Nobody knows. It might hideous! But true inovations come when you combine talents from different fields. Wangs take on Balenciaga could be beautiful (even though I doubt it) but there is a chance! I won't bash his upcoming collection because we haven't seen them.

 

[congacon]

i was so astonish learning that tory burch's sale is projected to be 800 million dollars this year. that is a huge for any hf company, let's alone a company that has less than 10 years in existence.

prestigious labels' sale like lanvin, balmain, balenciaga, chloe, and celine are nowhere near that. and these have been in existence for million of years. at the end of the day any label need to at least break even to survive.

i heard so many people saying that they love and buy pieces from alenxander wang. so clearly he has established a group of loyal customers.

i love balenciaga under ghesquire. he's is one of the most innovative and smartest designers out there. his designs are artistic and brilliant in so many way. they are art. however they have little commercial values.

he'll be greatly missed for a while .......until his next project

 

[mistress_f]

i was so astonish learning that tory burch's sale is projected to be 800 million dollars this year. that is a huge for any hf company, let's alone a company that has less than 10 years in existence.

prestigious labels' sale like lanvin, balmain, balenciaga, chloe, and celine are nowhere near that. and these have been in existence for million of years. at the end of the day any label need to at least break even to survive.

i heard so many people saying that they love and buy pieces from alenxander wang. so clearly he has established a group of loyal customers.

well tory burch's price range is nowhere near high fashion. the fact that it is cheaper and more accessible gives it a way larger target of costumers... as for wang, even if way more expensive (unreasonably so , i might add, considering the awful quality of his products) is still more accessible than balenciaga or lanvin et al.

 

[rayoflight]

Ok, they have Balenciaga which is fashion elite, edgy, copied all over the planed, has loyal flock of followers, more influential that any house in terms of trend setting. And it's because they have a great team and Ghesquiere has had strong vision (well, 90% of times) for everything they produced. So at the moment, everything with the name Balenciaga on it sells and people drool over the pieces, especially the more conceptual ones and even more over the stuff that doesn't even go on sale. That's a smart albeit elitist strategy for a fashion house, but it seemed to work well so far.
Now what isn't a smart move in my opinion is hiring someone who isn't even remotely capable or at least hasn't yet demonstrated above average skill to produce mass-appeal accessories for Balenciaga and then throw some boring garments with fad details that will sell only based on previous fame of the house and what I suspect is gonna be aggressive PR strategy. Balenciaga is going to lose it's status and go down the drain, remains to see how long till customers catch on to the change. Unless of course PPR is going to brainwash people into believing that even the weakest collection is solid gold, wouldn't be the first time that happens. And unless Wang has unexpected hidden talents, of course. Will see when he delivers his first few collections. Until then I remain skeptical.
There is something strange going on over at Balenciaga anyway, I should have know the moment they announced that they will start producing larger sized clothes. Things must be going really bad, such a desperate move. And now this.
Too bad.

 

[MTRLB]

Guys! I understand from the editorial/fashion point of view that Balenciaga with Nicolas was nothing short of amazing. But ultimately, the RTW has to sell. Thats where the $$$ comes from and to budget the shows and collections. When making a $13000 dress and its something so seasonal, the client wear it once, and will forever leave it in her closet. It all comes to the dollars... Realistic or not. His collection isnt the easiest to wear and cheapest to spend on.

As horrific as I was with Alexander Wang heading the brand. They do have something similar to go along with. Balenciaga has always been a uber luxe sportswear french house even with Nicolas' touch. That oversized sweater, Bra top, halter neck. It relates to what Alex. Wang is known for in NY - Chic Sportswear. And I'm sure thats where the brand is heading. Luxe sportswear and making it easy to wear. It's all about the fabric and the tailoring for Balenciaga. Their strategy now is to make it wearable. They have alr reached that well known status through their bags and recently, those sweaters. I guess, it just makes sense for them to try and capitalize their RTW which for many seasons, isn't selling on the shop floor as well as it was celebrated by the fashion stylists.

Look at where fashion is alr heading at. Minimalism. With Celine, something so simple yet luxe and chic selling $3000, and women still buy it. Cuz they see themselves wearing it everyday to work without looking 'past season'
Raf Simons at Dior, Hedi Slimane at Saint Laurent, Jil Sander, everyone is heading where the $$$ comes from - The commercial side of RTW fashion. Where the actual spending clients have the say. Its no longer the dramatic staged up presence of runway pieces which rich ladies are interested. And even more, most rich ladies are a size 40 and shorter than models, who hate wearing sky high heels. They have the $$$$ and i think designers now are sensible enough to have notice this trend.

On the whole, collections which are not really well-critic by the editors, will sell for the clients. Fashion wants something out-of-the-norm, special and even loud pieces. but the clients wants something they can wear on the daily basis. These people wears high-end RTW everyday as their lifestyle, they dun wan to look like a clown everyday.
And its just a pull-and-push thing. Whether the designers wants to be adored by the fashion editors(who does not buy but borrow samples) or the actual clienteles who spent 20k every year.

 

[KKnardi]

the change of head designer at balenciaga might produce greater sales, but I don't know if the fashion forward innovation that Nicolas stood for will be preserved with wang. It's a loss and a gain at the same time...

 

[shanhuq]

I think the policies that PPR put up for Balenciaga were really annoying. For runway pieces they are first of all only available in a size 34 or 36 (38 for the more generic show pieces.) and then only barely any of the collection is produced and only 1 shop per country gets it. Then lets say you want to do a special order for a runway piece, they will only let you do it the week of the show because that's when the buy is and they can't do anything about it. Maybe if they produced a bit more pieces they would say, because these pieces do in fact sell! When I go to the shop though they barely had any show pieces, by the end of the season there's maybe 1 top or something left. If you try calling any other shop it's the same deal. I think maybe PPR and the buyer for the stores were doubting the clothes. But there are many people interested in buying $3000 super short shorts made of god knows what.

 

[KKnardi]

LOOOL
I agree, its obvious she was 1001% involved in this appointment, well she has more dogs on her leash than Cruella De Ville. As for the future of the brand, it looks like it will head the way of Ungaro. I am personally quite shocked that the Genius of Ghesquire is being replaced by a trendy mass market stylist, that is Alexander Wang.

just saw this, looool, so funny, but yeah agree... hands down.

 

[mikel]

I case there was any doubt, Balenciaga just made the announcement on facebook. So it's 100% official now.

Paris, 3 December 2012,

Balenciaga and PPR are pleased to announce the appointment of Alexander Wang to the post of Creative Director of the Balenciaga fashion house, as of today. Alexander Wang has responsibility for designing the brand’s women’s and men’s ready-to-wear and accessories collections, as well as for Balenciaga’s image.

Alongside his new duties at Balenciaga, Alexander Wang will continue his activities with his own, independently-owned fashion house.

"I am deeply honored to embark on this new role for a brand and house that I have such great admiration and respect for", said Alexander Wang.

Isabelle Guichot, President & CEO of Balenciaga, stated: “The Balenciaga fashion house and its staff are proud to welcome Alexander Wang, whose proven talent, modernity and individual and cosmopolitan vision of design will naturally embrace and enrich the unique heritage of this fashion house which will soon be one hundred years old.”

François-Henri Pinault, Chairman and CEO of PPR, added: “Balenciaga is an extraordinary fashion house with inexhaustible potential and it is endowed with a priceless heritage. Alexander Wang will use his creativity and his own research to reinterpret and immortalize the distinctive, modern and extremely innovative style imposed by Cristóbal Balenciaga. "

ppr.com via facebook.com/Balenciaga

 

[disco54]

 

[Deleted member 7575]

Well, let's just hope he hires a decent design director and a stylist who can make this work for him. Who knows, maybe he'll surprise us?

 

[moss trey]

Well, let's just hope he hires a decent design director and a stylist who can make this work for him. Who knows, maybe he'll surprise us?

While I'm not super excited about the appointment I am insanely curious to see what he'll pull out. Like you said, perhaps he'll surprise us. I hope so.

 

[dior_couture1245]

I'm so done with fashion.

 

[IloveDiorHomme]

Ghesquière's copycat in charge of Balenciaga...makes sense.

I just feel sad that he will change the aesthethics of the company : the stores etc...

 

[GERGIN]

^
He's no Hedi Slimane, who freakishly changed everything to do with YSL. And I don't really get the whole copycat thing either, from what i've seen Alexander's clothes really doesn't scream Balenciaga (Helmut Lang in my opinion).

The issue is obviously to do with the background he's come from with his designs. Although it's quite hilarious people didn't make any big deal that Christophe Lemaire jumps from Lacoste right into Hermes. I wouldn't even be surprised if there was big dissapointment with Marc Jacob's arrival as head designer of LV back in his hay days.

I can't quite get around to wether I can be REALLY excited about this...as Raf's and Hedi's presentations at Dior and YSL were a let down...but ofcourse things take time as well...

 

[Bidwell]

I believe Alexander Wang has the same cut+paste, street-meets-salon aesthetics; although not the same nuanced style.
It is also a landmark decision to have one of Chinese heritage take the reigns of a Paris house, here and now, in the new Chinese century. A bit like Obama in the presidency, really. American to boot. At least he has a chance to inject something new. If not, it may turn into another turnstile house like many others...

 

[TianSoFine]

Tbh, I was saddened by the direction that Ghesquiere went in with Balenciaga, though his last collection was a nice surprise. I've always preferred the original Balenciaga DNA over the stuff Ghesquiere started doing. I'm kind of disappointed that they chose someone whose work is probably going to be a copy of Ghesquiere's, but I want to give him the benefit of doubt because no one else is. >.<

 

[angel222]

On a scale of 1 to 10 A.W. is a 7.5 because he just doesn't have enough of the experience, perhaps someone with greater talent could at age 28 but not him.