Balenciaga F/W 06.07 Paris

[pradaromance]

the shoes

 

[fashion_love]

Love the dresses, hate the shoes.

 

[liberty33r1b]

the shoes are soo, well ..... not wearable.....really disappointing.

 

[melt977]

Couturier's coup Balenciaga reborn

Couturier's coup Balenciaga reborn

[FONT=Geneva,Arial,sans-serif]Jess Cartner-Morley in Paris
Wednesday March 1, 2006
The Guardian

[/FONT]The roll call of late Parisian couturiers who have been reborn as modern megabrands is about to lengthen. To the names of Christian Dior and Coco Chanel, posthumously plastered across sunglasses, handbags and perfumes, the world over, another venerable designer looks set to be added: Cristobal Balenciaga, the "couturier's couturier". The house of Balenciaga, whose latest collection was unveiled at Paris fashion week yesterday, is having what is known in fashion circles as "a moment". The label has the wind in its sails for three reasons. First, the "egg" and "cocoon" silhouettes dreamt up by founder Cristobal Balenciaga in the 1950s are endlessly referenced by today's most modish designers, and this status as the old master du jour is to be sealed with a retrospective of the couturier's work which opens at the Louvre, in Paris, this summer. Second, the label's young designer Nicolas Ghesquière, has impressed the industry with an ability to consistently turn out fresh and well-executed collections.

Last but not least, the label has the financial might of Gucci Group behind it. In 2001 the luxury group bought Balenciaga, which had lapsed into near obscurity, in 2001, giving a 9% share to Ghesquière as part of the deal. In 2004 the house was given three years to turn a profit. Official figures are not released until next week, but before yesterday's show Balenciaga announced it had reached this goal of profitability late last year, two years ahead of schedule.

The combination of cool heritage, hot talent and cold hard cash is hard to beat. As the icing on the cake, Ghesquière yesterday presented what might just be his best collection yet. Citing designs from the house's 1960s archives as his inspiration, he riffed on the house's legacy of unexpected shapes: now that "tulip" shaped skirts are a high street commonplace, skirts on the Balenciaga catwalk seemed modelled instead on traditional jelly moulds - or, for a more Parisian reference, on the shape of a brioche bun.
Yet lest the horses take fright, these beautiful creations were interspersed with slim, flattering black trousers - the first sighting of this garment on a hip catwalk for some time. Indulgent fabrics - thick quilted ivory satin and fine fuchsia cashmere - lent an air of luxury to simple boxy jackets and starkly cut strapless cocktail dresses. Ghesquière's signature item, the Lariat handbag, is already carried by fashionistas from Kate Moss to Colleen McLoughlin. With expansion in the pipeline, this looks set to be just the (second) beginning for Balenciaga.

From the Guardian Unlimited

 

[Tinetush]

I love the idea of the fabrics, also the puffs are pretty.
But then that's about it. I'm very disappointed, I wasn't expecting the collection to be as good as s/s 06, But I sure wasn't expecting this.

 

[Cosette]

The shoes are a bit too high for my liking for the most part, but I really love some of the boots despite the fact I'd probably be like 6'4" or 6'5" wearing them And I think they really look amazing paired with the tights and the dresses.

 

[rui]

the collection is so modern and graphic in shapes. I really enjoy it. The shoes are out of this world! I dont see many fashionistas rocking those, though they should, their quite unique!!

Last seasons show was so beautiful and the first time I actually enjoyed balenciaga, this season really brought me to respect the house. nicholas is rocking it out!!

 

[kimair]

style.com's review

It was Balenciaga at double force: the template of Cristobal Balenciaga's past, rigorously rethought by Nicolas Ghesquière, a young designer gifted with the intellect and technical skill to propel the name to a whole new relevance. Ghesquière's woman, in her amazing wardrobe of short, molded checked tweed suits with standaway collars, rounded coats and mind-blowingly wrought evening dresses, radiated a powerful modernity.

Elevating his models to a towering height with tall hats and vertiginous platform boots, Ghesquière's vision created extraordinary volumes and new proportions using fabrics that are rarely seen outside haute couture. The research he had done in the company's archives resulted in a surge of technical creativity that goes way beyond literal copying. He riffed at high speed through all the changes of silhouette Balenciaga developed in his 30-year career—from stiff peplumed jackets rising slightly above the waist, to simple sheaths, to elaborately surfaced Jacquard evening dresses with skirts that stand out in 3-D bubbles.

In a season when so many designers are quoting Balenciaga, Ghesquière pushed his design to a place no one else has reached. Part of it was in the intensity of the decoration involved—like the minutely beaded flowers on a white bodice, the zones of tiny ruffles outlining a shift, or the hand-painted rose-colored patterning on a skirt that bloomed like an exotic flower. Equally important, though, was the way he leavened the historical reference with simple, hip pieces that stand in line with his own sensibility, like swing-back coats with the ease of a parka, his signature skinny pants, and a navy jacket that came with a cream bouclé liner—a stroke that referred back to the shearlings he's always loved. Throughout, you sensed the mark of a designer who has hit such a confident stride that, even though he has many more commercial things in the showroom—including the hugely successful Balenciaga bags—he can devote his runway to a pure distillation of ideas.

Some of these stellar pieces will appear in the Balenciaga Paris exhibition which opens in July at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, juxtaposed against the original treasures culled from Cristobal Balenciaga's illustrious body of work. It's the biggest compliment to Ghesquière to say that his work will not only stand up to the comparison, but will also prove how he's bounced the history of the house back into a startling relevance for today.

-Sarah Mower

 

[kimair]

and cathy horyn's from the nytimes:

From small cap-sleeve shoulders, the proportions are drawn up like a giant shrug. The models' smooth domed hats give them an alien cast, and their platform shoes look corrective. The shrugging, alien, clubfooted army of Balenciaga: this is fashion for the 21st century.

As the designer of Balenciaga, a house that laid the foundations for modernism, Nicolas Ghesquiere has had enormous influence on the fashion landscape. The skinny pants, the disarmingly awkward proportions, the vagueness of the models' beauty, the galactic footwear: these are the codes that have run through his collections since 1997 and which, little by little, have helped shape our ideas of what is modern in dress.
Today, as fashion's big names took center stage in the French fall collections — with Gothic glamour from John Galliano of Dior and Jean Paul Gaultier — Mr. Ghesquiere both refined and amplified those codes. From the first outfit to the last, through the barrel-shaped coats and jackets in plaid with hyperpleated skirts and the frosting-white cloqué dresses with stiff flounces, you could not take your eyes off the clothes. Everything was visually arresting.
You could probably locate a sociological explanation for the blown-up shapes and twiglike black legs, for the way the combination of the 1960's helmets and the shoes seemed to stretch the models into cartoon figures. Don't bother. This was fashion. You were meant to feel that the expression was big, even surreal — and not to get too corny about it, that it was about having fun. Remember when fashion promised nothing else?
The runways are awash in sulky layers or, reflecting an opposite mood, flashy signs of glam rock. The assumption is that a designer's primary role is to operate as a vessel, absorbing changes in our culture. Mr. Ghesquiere is here to tell us differently. He reminds us that fashion, no less than art or music, is a stronghold of the individual mind and that it can produce wholly original expressions. We've just gotten out of the habit of recognizing them. Or expecting them.

Mr. Ghesquiere is so confident about using the Balenciaga archive, and bending it to his own ideas, that his clothes have gained a more vigorous sense of freedom and surprise. There are the extravagant Balenciaga gestures, like a flounced coat, but there are also more accessible styles, like a fisherman's knit sweater worn with a plaid satin skirt or cap-sleeve jackets in black wool shown over white shirts and his signature skinny pants, now polished with thin silver-metal belts.
"It's the fusion of my silhouette and the story of the house," said Mr. Ghesquiere, who has been working on a Balenciaga retrospective, which will open in Paris this summer. "Really, it's the whole puzzle."

 

[janyoung99]

LOVE the plaids, jackets (!!), skinny pants and dresses. I have always preferred architectural design as opposed to embellished design - particularly because it is more difficult to execute - and even when retro still looks modern. Nicolas always does such a fabulous job of showing off a woman's face with particularly flattering necklines/upper bodices and he's done it again this time sans frou-frou (thank God).

 

[Lena]

amazing, finally Nicolas is paying a tribute to Christobal Balenciaga, about time too..

 

[JJohnson]

I love the shoes! Even though its not wearable I find them to be cute..

 

[JJohnson]

I was thinking that since the company is profitable (2 years ahead of schedule) The Gucci Group might think about restoring the couture side of the brand. I WOULD LOVE TO SEE THAT!!!

 

[Kimkhuu]

A nearly perfect collection..... this is both commercial but creative at the same time.... safe but very very great cuts and designs.... wow, the shoes go so well with the tops and minis.....

fabulous..... now they're REALLY hitting the jackpot..... a great collection design wise but also very marketable.... every designer's dream!!!!!

 

[PrinceOfCats]

In the navy...you can wear a crappy hat, apparently.

 

[paigelhuntley]

love the skirts, think theyre absolutly darling. same with the shoes. hate the plaids. undecided on the rest...maybe it just needs time.

 

[Pastry]

and cathy horyn's from the nytimes:

whoah...i was soo wrong

 

[Pastry]

ok. we love you hicolas, but the shoes are u-g-l-y!

i don't know if any of you agree, but i find the balenciaga runway shoes for fall 2004 ( the boots mostly) to be the most desirable footwear produced in eons!

 

[Guessgirl96]

In the navy...you can wear a crappy hat, apparently.

Is this reffering to the "In the navy" song? First thing I thought of when I read this but I thought it was a DDR only song.

 

[seeing_double]

I really love this collection. I love that he made the collection stronger through the use of exaggerated shapes, not opulent fabrics as he did last season (with the exception of a few looks). Not that last season was not magnificent, but I really enjoy this one as well. Unfortunately the equestrian and boater themes are rather blatant in a few looks, which I am shying away from, but other than that I think he did a nice job balancing influence and his own creativity. I also like that he went back in the archives, and really just modernized what genius had already been created.