Balenciaga F/W 07.08 Paris

[Caffeine]

If the old houses cannot work with the same ideas/aesthetics they used to, what's the point in keeping them alive in the 21th century? I don't get why all old fashion houses who's designers/founders are either dead or retired are kept alive... I think it is vulgar. Why can't we form new houses? Why recycle and hence destroy the old houses?

it's legacy translated to money.
Europeans and Americans are very into the legacy thing. Every brand tries to convince consumers that they are est. in xxxx with great history, meaning it should be respected, loved, and superior to others. Using the name Balenciaga is so much easier than using the young name Nicolas Ghesquiere for Gucci to pull off a series of marketing campaigns.

I was thinking after the SS06 and FW06 shows that how far they could go revisiting and reinventing the archives. They couldn't keep doing the same thing. That's why SS07 was so important. It told us what he was trying to do: sitting on the archives and be true to the Balenciaga name or revisiting himself. From this collection, it appears to me that he is revisiting himself. Love it or hate it, Nicolas is moving FORWARD. By forward I don't mean futuristic, I mean he is developing.

 

[Beautiful Stranger]

I like some of the jackets though. Except for the Sportmax-parka-replica of course.

 

[4n98]

I like what Sasha wears.

 

[Bidwell]

I think he has done a realistic collection after being blasted for the last one.
People don't seem to like it when the collection references Cristobal too much either so he is in a very precarious position (as well as obligating Gucci's suits).
Not an enviable position for what is without a doubt still one of fashion's top designers.
The lego shoes are innovative and fresh and "of the house". Some of the jackets are casually cool and will look good on the street.

Regarding new designers and ancient ateliers, one should realize houses are companies with extensive employees and shareholders. It takes a minimum of a decade for it to run profitably and that is with many successful collections. Once a designer has a legacy and style there is no reason why it would shut its doors. Chanel, YSL, Lanvin, etc.
It takes €€€€€ to set up a company and not many design graduates have that amount of cash or investment. Except McCartney perhaps.
Gone are the days a designer can host a few and show some frocks in a café.

 

[4n98]

I like all the pants' shapes.

 

[Whitelinen]

it's legacy translated to money.
Europeans and Americans are very into the legacy thing. Every brand tries to convince consumers that they are est. in xxxx with great history, meaning it should be respected, loved, and superior to others. Using the name Balenciaga is so much easier than using the young name Nicolas Ghesquiere for Gucci to pull off a series of marketing campaigns.

I was thinking after the SS06 and FW06 shows that how far they could go revisiting and reinventing the archives. They couldn't keep doing the same thing. That's why SS07 was so important. It told us what he was trying to do: sitting on the archives and be true to the Balenciaga name or revisiting himself. From this collection, it appears to me that he is revisiting himself. Love it or hate it, Nicolas is moving FORWARD. By forward I don't mean futuristic, I mean he is developing.

I know it's the money that matters here. It's hard to start as an unknown designer/independent designer than design for a house that has a reputation already brought by someone else's work. However, if we are thinking of fashion in the basis of what looks good, how to appreciate someone's work (and even the controversial "fashion as art"), I think the right way to go is to not continue old houses when the founder has deceased or retired. I wish sometimes, for someone in this world, money wouldn't be all that matters and directs everything... but I guess that would be too idealistic.

 

[Royal-Galliano]

I didn't like it first but now I do, not all, but I do.

 

[visconti]

After browsing the collection last night, my (literal) gut reaction was that these swirling colors were the last thing I needed to see after being nauseated all day. After sleeping on it, and more or less recovering my health, I still dislike it, but easier to take apart. When you take the fully styled pieces (especially late in the show), this is more or less the exact opposite of how I'd ever choose to dress if I were a woman. That being said, I can see variations of the early blazers being big sellers, but they don't seem as covetable as the paisley and other pieces from seasons past. I would also be interested in taking a look at "the" pants.

Even though I have mixed feelings about the robots (trying too hard, etc), looking back through it, the pieces that real people would actually buy, are far more interesting than this time around. I love some of the jackets in that collection, but here, the sellable items look like like the sorts of nice, but non-descript jackets you could see tucked away on a shelf at a number of pricey stores. Only these have super-expensive buttons.

Only time will tell how influential this collection proves to be, but I don't see it being very memorable. You have a bunch of ugly patterns that few people who aren't just borrowing things from a stylist will care to bring into their wardrobes and a lot of "OK" pieces that will probably sell, but I can't see being nearly as beloved as his older work. Neither of those options make for an outstanding show.

 

[sarah13]

I hope no one has already posted this. Here is the review from style.com

(Even they refer to the shoes as lego colored!)

PARIS, February 27, 2007 – “It’s a big mix—a street mix, with symbols and colors that are very multicultural,” said Nicolas Ghesquière at the Balenciaga rehearsal an hour before the show. Then Led Zeppelin kerranged on the sound track, the girls started loping by, and he grinned, “It's like in your room, on campus. It's about how girls become themselves.” In other words, this was Balenciaga brought back to the realm of the casual and young, but still just as layered, complex, and resonant as any Ghesquière projection into sci-fi.

Well, what does that mean? Practically speaking, clothes to wear—as simple as a tight little peak-shoulder jacket, a pair of narrow jodhpur-ish pants, a college-girl scarf wound up high, and killer athletic-techno sandals (some colored as brightly as Legos). Or, as the alternative choice, a mixed-print patchwork dress. As a look, it all hung together with a clarity that doesn't take a master’s degree to understand. Still, there was enough to study in there to make a complete thesis on Ghesquière's ability to relate what he’s doing to his past body of work and then to add to it, bit by bit, without ever saying the same thing twice.

Using multiethnic fabric references—Eastern European folk embroideries, ikat, kimono, and African, Peruvian, Mongolian, and Balinese patterns—is a tricky business if you want to articulate something cool that hasn’t been done by everyone else. But Ghesquière has his own conceptual compass—it was set when he used a Palestinian scarf in one of his early collections, and it turned up this time in a different print, elaborated with gold fringe, as a takeoff point for the fluttery multipieced dresses, as well as the sculpted peplum jackets at the end of the show. As a counterbalance, there were all the traditional Western roots in the jackets: English men’s tailoring in green velvet smoking-jacket tail coats, Tyrolean boiled wool dyed magenta, boating-blazer stripes, and, lastly, bouclé tweeds of the sort associated with Chanel (though Ghesquière notes that Balenciaga was neck and neck with Coco on that).

Suffice to say, it is a major achievement to make all of that coherent while also producing a collection that isn’t overly prescriptive, locked into a head-to-toe look. When all’s said, the real cleverness of this show wasn’t even in its impressive levels of intellect or craft: It's in the fact that so many women will be able to reach in, grab a jacket or a towering pair of Balenciaga heels, and make them work with whatever else they own.

– Sarah Mower

 

[Grunged]

this is a great collection, I love it.
does anyone know where i can see the full show?

 

[ameliamaria59]

I think the collection is unique. It shows that he's not afraid to try new things. Each collection is so unexpected and thats why I love Balenciaga.

 

[Deleted member 7575]

I've done some research, i've found some interesting things hidden in these clothes. I'll post my write up when I get finished with it but right I'm leaning towards this collection being rather good.

 

[educo]

I gotta go to the Balenciaga store to investigate when this collection shows up. In fact, I gotta check out the Robot collection as well...

 

[ysljunkie]

its all over the place.....ummmm idk what to say i cant say i hate it but?

 

[Caffeine]

I've done some research, i've found some interesting things hidden in these clothes. I'll post my write up when I get finished with it but right I'm leaning towards this collection being rather good.

Just so you know I've been staring at the screen and waiting...

 

[ilaughead]

I've done some research, i've found some interesting things hidden in these clothes. I'll post my write up when I get finished with it but right I'm leaning towards this collection being rather good.

Hurry!

 

[BettyCooper]

Yes its a smart collection. Well done. However, I am SO sick of draping layering, and flowy garments.

The Prada spring 07 collection was refreshing to me because of the crisp structured look. Clean simple shapes in monochrome fabrics. Margiela's fall 07/08 collection spoke to this as well.

I guess my eyes are tired of this flowy, ragged look, so while I appreciate the skill with which he executed this collection I can't get behind it.

 

[sarah13]

I've done some research, i've found some interesting things hidden in these clothes. I'll post my write up when I get finished with it but right I'm leaning towards this collection being rather good.

Ooo yes please. As I keep going back and looking at the collection I have really fallen in love with the dresses.

Here are some of my favorites. I am curious if they are layered or the dresses are all one piece.

Photo credit: style.com

 

[visconti]

I've done some research, i've found some interesting things hidden in these clothes. I'll post my write up when I get finished with it but right I'm leaning towards this collection being rather good.

Add me to that waiting list too. If you can convince me to like (or at least appreciate) this collection I'll be very grateful.

 

[ilaughead]

Ooo yes please. As I keep going back and looking at the collection I have really fallen in love with the dresses.

Here are some of my favorites. I am curious if they are layered or the dresses are all one piece.

Photo credit: style.com

Irina's dress is definitely the best of the bunch. The rest are so-so by comparison.