Balenciaga F/W 11.12 Paris

[ALAUU]

I hate these boxy shapes. I feel like Nicolas needs to move away from this direction because it's been like this for a while now and it's just not very flattering. I miss the more classic shapes he used to do.

 

[mistress_f]

i love the shoes and the bags:

but that's about as exciting as it gets, i'm afraid.

vogue.it

 

[Zazie]

There are a few outstanding pieces - the knitted leather, the collage dresses with the twisting details, etc. - but really hated the fishnet dresses and most of separates. Not his strongest....

 

[ultramarine]

lol. It definitively seems like "Thats it"

That chunky knit looks awesome, why didnt he used it more and ..erm .. more appropiately?

What has happened to Balenciaga? Is it .. should I dare say it ... passé?

 

[soundboz]

Ooh, I love the clutch!

 

[Merveille]

lol. It definitively seems like "Thats it"

That chunky knit looks awesome, why didnt he used it more and ..erm .. more appropiately?

What has happened to Balenciaga? Is it .. should I dare say it ... passé?

Um, no.
Just because this isn't top tier compared to his standards doesn't mean it is passé. It would be passé if it became banal in the scope of the entire fashion industry and whether or not this is as great as Balenciaga has been in recent years it is still vastly more interesting than what 75% of the fashion industry is doing.

 

[ultramarine]

Their latest collections have not been as strong as they used to .. but if you think its still current. :/

 

[AgrenateD]

Details - Part 1






vogue.co.uk

 

[Dkammern]

I love how coherent Ghesquiere's collections have been lately.
If you look back at some past collections there's radical changes between one show and the next (until FW 2009) From florals armors, to draping, to robots.... There seems to be more of a common thread in SSFW10, and SSFW11.
Perhaps Ghesquiere's signature is more present in these collections. the stiff, somewhat boyish attitude (even when it's all skirts and towering heels), and certainly the 'futurism' of it all. They are all very much the same (which inevitably dilutes the "wow" effect balenciaga used to have) but they remain very distinct so there's a feeling of continuity and evolution.

I'm curious to see more of these "fake leather woven jackets" everyone has twitted about!


PS: shoes are to die for

 

[HeatherAnne]

It's nice to see a return to femininity at Balenciaga, without completely departing from their edgier recent collections. The floral prints are a million times better than the gaudy prints they had during their F/W 10.11 collections. The shoes are out of this world gorgeous, the detailing is immense, even down to the soles! Even though the buckle heels are eerily similar to Fall 2007 Chanel, the rich colors and snakeskin accents really set them apart. Overall I really love Balenciaga this season, it feels fresh and wearable.

 

[Frida]

Nicolas Ghesquière's 'garden of delights' made for a futuristic-chic collection at Balenciaga.

BY Hilary Alexander | 03 March 2011

Fantasy prints featuring lizards climbing trees and "hallucinatory" flowers, and a new, hip-slung, folded-petal skirt which covered the knees, were among the 'garden of delights' at Nicolas Ghesquière's futuristic-chic collection for Balenciaga, shown at the Paris prêt-à-porter season this morning.

Moving away from the hard-edged, neo-punk mood which predominated in his current spring/summer collection, Ghesquière followed a more gentle, but still adventurous line.
"We've still invested a lot in development, but on a larger scale," he said backstage after the show, staged, as has become a tradition, at The Crillon Hotel, and which included Orlando Bloom - in town to support his wife Miranda Kerr who modelled in the show - among the front-row guests.
Ghesquière called his new print, a multi-coloured dream-landcsape on white silk, "almost like a hallucination, like when you are a child and everything seems bigger than it is". "This fantasy approach is something which Cristobal Balenciaga himself used, so it felt right."


The print featured on the new folded drape-skirt with a semi-triangular hem, seen with dark, striped shimmering knits, on shirt-tunics and on slim trousers, zippered up the back of the ankles.
The key silhouette worked around a larger boxy top half, and a tapering lower half, with height added in the form of high-heeled, coloured snakeskin or black and white, multi-strapped sandals and ankle-boots. The look was particularly effective when a square-cut navy silk top was worn with one of the folded skirts in black, with flashes of metallic gold detail.
Although there were many of the 'noble' fabrics Ghesquière loves, there was an emphasis on 'fake', as in fake leather tabards and PU-look boxy jackets. Ingenious hand-knitting techniques were employed for voluminous, real-leather bombers and slim, rectangular clutch bags, where the hides had been stuffed to produce a more rounded effect. Other bags were also slim and rectangular, featuring opulent embossed metallic work on Spanish leather.
The hand-knitting techniques extended to lattice-work tabards, belted and layered over shocking pink, white or sequinned tunics, worn with silver and black, skinny trousers, as were navy foam-backed wool tunics with transparent tulle under-shirts.

Ghesquière also played with colour blocking, as in a black and white silk crepe tabard, with electric violet bands at the sides, and matching purple leggings.
Big blue eyes are obviously a key trend - whether fake or natural. Gareth Pugh used strange blue metallic 'eye guards' in his cyber sci-fi collection. And, although most of the models at Balenciaga looked completely makeup-free, some got the 'Blue Eye' treatment, in the form of swathes of bright shadow painted like a mask over eyes and brows.

telegraph.co.uk

 

[elle_gb]

I loved this collection, I mean it's hard to understand what he's trying to achieve but I think it was better to show something different rather than just a beautiful clothes. It's like he took us to visit his world but only few people could really comprehend.

 

[AgrenateD]

Part 2






vogue.co.uk

 

[Jinadaze]

Some looks are indeed interesting. Definitely better than the previous collection.

 

[AgrenateD]

Part 3






vogue.co.uk

 

[AgrenateD]

Part 4






vogue.co.uk

 

[MulletProof]

Well, this is pretty much my idea of a perfect Balenciaga collection.. the last few seasons have been an eyesore with the shamelessly identical looks and an overused silhouette, not to mention the techniques kindly 'borrowed' from smaller designers, this is different for me in the fact that it doesn't seem too eager to be groundbreaking or an editorial favorite, the pieces are very easy to wear and blend in, but they still have a bit of an experimental twist but controlled, at least in color, there's nothing about this that screams fashion victim (like the clothes he's been making in the last years).. like *ana* said, this definitely resembles his earlier shows, when it was all about practical pieces that looked quite elegant from a distance, practical from three feet away and highly intricate up close. Very nice..

 

[AgrenateD]

Part 5






vogue.co.uk

 

[Fiercification]

I was quite disappointed upon my first view, but then I started to see things that I like; the opening skirts made austere with leather tops...and the shoes are great. A grower but not as memorable as last season IMO.

 

[xPedro]

Balenciaga is always the hardest to review, you always start liking something and then you hate and vice versa, I'm gonna wait to say something about this...