Balenciaga F/W 2016.17 Paris

[Fashionstuff]

^ It won't be me

and not me

The clothes must make the women more beautiful. It can be hype but who cares, important to look good and i'm sure this kind of tailoring, this colours palette wouldn't make the women look beautiful.

Who is a new Balenciaga woman? The woman from the street, the next-door neighbor or businesswoman? I'm not sure if any businesswoman will wear it because only businesswoman,one who has good business , can buy Balenciaga and something from Vetements for her freetime?

If one woman want to wear something what looks interesting, original than she can wear Margiela by John Galliano,from Miuccia Prada.
She can wear from Thom Browne. From Westwood.
Or Rick Owens , or,or, or.
This designers have original clothes, original tailoring but their clothes will not make the woman look like she is pregnant and she is not, look like she has horrible body and she hasn't.

 

[fashionista-ta]

I saw from the article that his fashion school teacher wants to wear it--perhaps that is the perfect audience and place for it


Some of the pieces looked more avant garde than unflattering--the puffers for instance. Perhaps some of those pieces will appeal to the Guesquiere fans, who may have found little to love recently.


But anytime the models look godawful in the clothes, that is a hint to the rest of us. In my book, the real achievement is when the clothes look better on real women than they do on models (which certainly won't happen here). And honestly, I find it insulting. If a designer seems to want to make me look bad, why in the world should I give the house that hired him my money--for anything?

 

[squilliam]

I suppose the new balenciaga woman is a woman who recently lost weight and still wearing her plus sized clothes and has become a hermit in her home with ten cats, and may have some severe eyesight problems and no mirrors

 

[MulletProof]

I guess good or bad or flattering or unflattering is all subjective. I see fat rolls in my daily commute, everywhere, most people wear their stuff at least a size too small, and it's not even giving them good posture, maybe a lump over here will, who knows, I don't see anything too bad or what's particularly more offensive, playing with a silhouette and what gravity doesn't do or forcing your silhouette against gravity. Or letting your hormones dress you. Maybe one's deemed as more intellectual than the others, maybe one calls for sensitivity and the other smells of poor sense of humor. Truth is, despite having designers (Cristobal himself) playing with silhouettes and conventions, the authoritarian expectations on female dressing would make us think a day hasn't gone by since the 1950s. I for one never dress with the intention of looking "beautiful" or "interesting". It's mostly about how I feel. There's nothing written about it.

Some of the models are not real models, they're short and as real as it gets. Besides the "real women" debate was probably something financed by men. Divide and conquer. *fan of conspiracy theories*

The only fault I find in most of these clothes is not that they're difficult, they wish they were a little challenging... they problem is that they're a bit like basics, some of them classics, but mostly the kind of thing I would get tired of wearing or looking at after a few months time. Not that the average fashion enthusiast will have a problem swiping their card for that momentary high.

Looking at this again, I would probably be mostly just interested in the embellished pieces. There is some decent stuff like the navy bits, but then, Margaret Howell does that better. The sweaters with the open necklines look good, and maybe that shirt but that's probably the worst purchase considering any shirt from any man will look like that on women.




I would probably wear this if it wasn't for the short-lived appeal.. I'm kind of over that, but sometimes will dive in..


[livingly]

 

[TREVOFASHIONISTO]

I'm sorry, but almost this entire collection could conceivably be from SO many designers. It's just...clothing.

Vetements?

 

[squilliam]

I guess good or bad or flattering or unflattering is all subjective. I see fat rolls in my daily commute, everywhere, most people wear their stuff at least a size too small, and it's not even giving them good posture, maybe a lump over here will, who knows, I don't see anything too bad or what's particularly more offensive, playing with a silhouette and what gravity doesn't do or forcing your silhouette against gravity. Or letting your hormones dress you. Maybe one's deemed as more intellectual than the others, maybe one calls for sensitivity and the other smells of poor sense of humor. Truth is, despite having designers (Cristobal himself) playing with silhouettes and conventions, the authoritarian expectations on female dressing would make us think a day hasn't gone by since the 1950s. I for one never dress with the intention of looking "beautiful" or "interesting". It's mostly about how I feel. There's nothing written about it.

Some of the models are not real models, they're short and as real as it gets. Besides the "real women" debate was probably something financed by men. Divide and conquer. *fan of conspiracy theories*

The only fault I find in most of these clothes is not that they're difficult, they wish they were a little challenging... they problem is that they're a bit like basics, some of them classics, but mostly the kind of thing I would get tired of wearing or looking at after a few months time. Not that the average fashion enthusiast will have a problem swiping their card for that momentary high.

Looking at this again, I would probably be mostly just interested in the embellished pieces. There is some decent stuff like the navy bits, but then, Margaret Howell does that better. The sweaters with the open necklines look good, and maybe that shirt but that's probably the worst purchase considering any shirt from ]

Well sorry for the bad joke, I guess it was rude. I don't dress to be pretty or for anyone either, I do it because I love it. But this collection, I can see he tried to honor the heritage, but there's something pseudo intellectual about this. Cristobal was inspired by his heritage and made feminine clothes but also looked to the future and created something timeless. You look at some of his designs and can't exactly pinpoint when they were made exactly, because he transcended trends and did his own thing. These clothes just look uncomfortable, and yes there are great clothes that are cumbersome and uncomfortable but there's a certain intrigue and beauty to them. These clothes just seem to be made because they had to show something. Demna is a street wear designer who follows cheap fleeting trends, he tried here but he's just not good. He's neither creative or original, and I question his passion for the art of clothing. Also I just don't get very oversized clothes that are sold to average people, they are rarely done right and end up looking strange on non models. There are people who are wearing sizes too small because they don't want to think they're big, not realizing that a proper fit would make them look better

 

[MulletProof]

I agree with most of what you're saying. My post was mostly about the good ol' unflattering/"it doesn't look good! don't wear it!" topic. His work is not my cup of tea either, but what he's working with here is actually a small dose of experimentation in terms of conventions, so it's surprising to see that even that is too much to handle these days and some people still want to campaign for one version of femininity and we should all abide by that, otherwise you're just one pseudo-intellectual jerk. I see men in very loose pants, loose sleeves, it's never crossed my mind to consider them pretentious d*cks for picking a garment that goes against their god-given masculine forms.

But yeah, Vetements is awful. By the sound of that BoF interview, I think this is his market. Whether this is his real passion or not, I'm not sure, it sounds like it is?, I would put most designers in other fields to be honest, Hedi should be a DJ for starters, he has no business designing for women simply because he clearly doesn't see women as equals and there's a long history of that in womenswear, so he's definitely not the one that's not head over heels with the gender itself, but it hasn't prevented them from succeeding and, funniest of all, have women all over them, without questioning why they're putting on something that in principle, does not celebrate their existence .. at least this person consults his other hipster friends with semi-regular occupations for yay or nay on his designs.

I think sizing is also subjective really, even what I consider too tight might be better than what I would suggest for most. I am "tall and thin", but would never wear some things that apparently are reserved for said body type because I would look and feel like a freakin mast with an oversized flag at best (****** at worst). Meanwhile I think some people on the short side pull off that cozy, overized look so well. It depends on taste.. it also depends on how stupid the garment is, some things just can't be saved no matter who you put it on... I see my neighbor everyday on vetements (I have mentioned her before, it's just traumatizing), she's tall-ish (1.70 maybe?) and thin and still looks stupid, because the clothes themselves are! there's just no way around them..

 

[JeanAvril]

I remember making a naive and ignorant comment about Ghesquiere's s/s 08 (?) collection on this forum ages ago so I'm trying to be more open about all designers these days, especially those who try to be more... conceptual. But this looks so so so stupid.

 

[Zazie]

I have always preferred the Antwerp, Japanese and non-mainstream designers eg Chalayan, Thomas Tait, Maison Rabih Kayrouz, Lutz Huelle so I would love to see a serious, new, original designer succeed.

I was one of the few who loved NG's early "C3PO" science fiction collection and also Melim Anderssen for Chloe which were very much hated by most at that time, so it's not that I'm not open-minded.

My problem with Vetements is that they didn't quite deliver - very few original, non-derivative ideas and the most unforgivable...they relied on Styling, not true construction experiments, to achieve the "look", eg those off-the-shoulder jackets were ordinary jackets pulled and awkwardly worn off the shoulders, whereas a designer like MMM would have reconstructed the jackets such that they become new garments.

This attitude sucks, truly. They need to love it enough to dedicate skill, attention and time in developing these concepts.

They just copied concepts and ideas, worse of all, from my beloved MMM without giving due credit, and bask in the halo of the Meister, safe in the knowledge that he isn't about to give an interview about the usurpers....ugh...!!

 

[fashionista-ta]

Does anyone know whether the off-the-shoulder jackets are sewn that way, or styled that way?


Frankly, all I can think is that whoever wears this in the winter is highly likely to get sick, so I would prefer the styled answer! Art is all very well, but what's the point of clothes no one can practically wear? I have no patience for clothes that work for no one.

 

[Phuel]

^^^ Like Zazie mentioned, it’s just a styling trick.

Look at how tight the collars are to create that off-the-shoulder effect. If it were cut that way, it wouldn’t need to be so tight. And the way the jackets are all tightly zipped or buckled with the hems of the jackets thrusting outwards, and the folds all around the chest area; that always happens when a jacket is manipulated.

The clothes look solidly design and very everyday-accessible. That, along with the hype of Demna as some new fashion demigod, and the Balenciaga label, will make bank. The carpenter’s bench bags alone will be be huge.

 

[disco54]

The clothes have this flea market/ second hand store vibe I just cannot digest. NG's shadow looms large on this brand, his sleek futuristic glamour was leagues better than this, though he lost it by the end.

The fabrics look so cheap, it looks like a fashion college show at points.
Don't get me started at the casting, they all look straight out of a soup kitchen.

 

[squilliam]

I think revolutionary ideas sometimes need to be introduced in small doses so as not to shock and revolt the masses. Like when the bikini was first introduced (I think in the 40s or 50s), no model would wear it and the designer had to get a burlesque dancer to wear it, and shocked people and didn't catch on. When it was slightly modified in the 60s it became popular and less scandalous.

So I would say that some of these designs maybe are too "out there" for even the fashion as art people. But it's also not well done, other designers have done the severely exaggerated proportions before and have executed it better (such as CdG, Chalyan, and mcqueen). Yes it's a different approach, an unconventional idea..but in my opinion it's just not that good and this guy seriously over hyped

 

[Deleted member 7575]

I quite like it. I really do.

The problem is that maybe in a month I won't.

There's something about Demna's ideas. Either they're not entirely original (these "experiments" we've all seen elsewhere) or they're too on-the-nose, desperately screaming "Look at me, I'm different. Not really."

I think it may be a bit embarrassing to wear these clothes by the time they finally reach stores.

Judging from this collection, Balenciaga has become the Zara for the extremely rich; making nicely done and provocative clothes that will hold your interest only until the next monthly shipment arrives. And then... who cares?

 

[donyan]

^^there are many valid points being made, and I agree with most of them. I still think that It's an interesting collection, and I actually like the casting , simply because these girls look endlessly cool and selfassured.
the Vetements Backlash seems to be just around the corner, (sadly, as I think it is a much better collection that most people give it credit for), so it is going to be an incredible balancing act to make this work in the long run

 

[eugenius]

Luckily, I'll never have any need to wear this.

That being said, I really hope they don't add a new & improved, and bigger & better Balenciaga menswear line. The thought of that really leaves a bad taste in my mouth, like day-old Starbucci's.

 

[Cosmic Voices]

Ok so I just watched Sophia Neophitou's snapchat story (btw you NEED to follow her, she's hilarious) and she was in the Balenciaga showroom and I have to say, I might have to eat my words. The pieces look stunning up close. I think it's just the overall styling and the succession of overwhelming look after overwhelming look during the show that threw me.

 

[Fashionstuff]

I saw from the article that his fashion school teacher wants to wear it--perhaps that is the perfect audience and place for it


Some of the pieces looked more avant garde than unflattering--the puffers for instance. Perhaps some of those pieces will appeal to the Guesquiere fans, who may have found little to love recently.


But anytime the models look godawful in the clothes, that is a hint to the rest of us. In my book, the real achievement is when the clothes look better on real women than they do on models (which certainly won't happen here). And honestly, I find it insulting. If a designer seems to want to make me look bad, why in the world should I give the house that hired him my money--for anything?

The clothes have this flea market/ second hand store vibe I just cannot digest. NG's shadow looms large on this brand, his sleek futuristic glamour was leagues better than this, though he lost it by the end.

The fabrics look so cheap, it looks like a fashion college show at points.
Don't get me started at the casting, they all look straight out of a soup kitchen.

I think his Fashion School teacher wanted to tell the whole word that Demna was her student

Right, this collection look like from second hand shop... If it was not Balenciaga by Demna Gvasalia from Vetements , so i would like to see if somebody will like it.
I think it would not work at all with real models- model figures that's why he has choosed the way he used in Vetements. The Girls from "street" or Instagram or maybe Lotta's friends.
The one is sure- this collection and Demna are going to take the place in the Fashion history.
I want see the press and buyers reactions in case he do the second collection in the same way.
Vetements is not Balenciaga, it is more easy with Vetements or still easy because it is a new-or still new -brand , there he can make prints , hoodies, Jeans, jackets in different ways and the Job is done. But do it with Balenciaga, i'm not sure it will work. It is hype and nothing more that Hype.

And sincerely, better i buy Margiela by JOHN because it is creation.

Balenciaga by Demna Gvasalia? No,thanks. Not for me.
I don't like when somebody wears clothes 1 size more Little ( it Looks horrible and it is not comfortable ) but it Looks ugly when somebody wears one size bigger. Oversized for me not what Demna has made for Balenciaga.
Sincerely, i was sure he could and he would show something different and not the bad copy of Margiela and expensive Vetements in one.
I tried to find something what i could like -but not to wear, only to like on the photos, but i didn't.

 

[paulsoptirean]

I thought it was a good collection. Not a fan of those dresses paired with those striped tights, kinda reminded me f Strawberry Shortcake. Also, those totes at the end weren't really good but I loved the rest. Those ski jackets were interesting and I love the global factor of them. I mean even if you can't afford Balenciaga you can style your ski jacket with a glittery turtleneck for the same effect. While for others this is the deterioration of luxury, for me I think this makes fashion more inclusive and accepting.

 

[MayaStar]

OH MY GOD!!!
I knew there will be some comments like these but not the whole thread!!! Alexander Wang's was better? Are you kidding me? Because of him Balenciaga needs to make just some wearable and desirable clothes because they lost a lot of money because of him! Remember how cool Balenciaga was when Nicolas was there? And what it was when Wang did this brand? Nothing! Very forgetable clothes, total copy past.
Demna is cool. But he is not only try-hard man who can be inspired by stripper clothes for example He is smart and talented designer. Dont forget who he was before Vetements and with whom he worked.

This collection is not perfect. There is no big WOW effect. But its good. I need to say its the best debut after Nicolas in LV. Strong vision from the first season.
I think floral dresses part was horrible. Its really ugly. I dont like mix of classy evening dresses and matchy boots. Because if you hide boots dresses look good. I dont like that show was not good directed. I love when its story on the runway but it was like a store in motion - sporty jackets part, coat part etc
I really like that Demna played with Balenciaga forms very accurate because of this I cant wait to see what will be next. Some affair. There are a lot of good wearable pieces - costumes, skirts were amazing, cool classic coats, good bags.
Vetements too much? Guys I dont know why you say this but Marc Jacobs collection and LV collections always were similiar. Wang and Balenciaga were similiar. Even Loewe and Anderson have something in common. I guess its part of the contract that collections need to be a little bit similiar. And its pretty logic because when you hire creative director you hire his vision and style.
So my opinion that Balenciaga again is intresting player among LV, Prada, Loewe, Gucci and Saint Laurent.