Balenciaga S/S 00 Paris

[helmut.newton]

A look at Nicholas' earlier work for Balenciaga

PARIS, October 7, 1999

By Armand Limnander

Nicholas Ghesquière continued his revival of the silhouettes Balenciaga pioneered in the '50s, and brought them up to speed (which, in this season, means going back to the '80s). Loose sack-dresses, sweaters and coats with dolman sleeves, as well as pleated pants tapered at the bottom, predominated; but there were also preppy, slim trousers with matching long-sleeved shirts and blazers. The palette was restrained for the most part: Plum, beige, and navy were the main colors.

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[helmut.newton]

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[helmut.newton]

Some more information about the collection...

How to you take a fashion house from the absolute pits to being one of the premiere collections in the world? Ask Balenciaga’s Nicolas Ghesquiere. He may not want to give you the complete recipe as he’s perfected it, and has kept it as much a secret as Coca Cola has kept their formula hidden deep in caverns on Mars.

Ghesuiere was given two unenviable tasks early in his career at Balenciaga. The first task was given to someone who was very low in the pecking order. His job was simple, work in licensing for Asia creating uniforms and funeral clothes. With acknowledgments to an overt pun, the job bored him to death. There were also rumblings that the fashion house might not be around much longer thanks to the handiwork of Josephus Thimister. The last straw for the heads of Balenciaga was when Thimister held a show where he paraded models down the runway with a live band playing what revelers called “god-awful noise.”

Thimister’s role was cut short after that stunt, Ghesquiere was picked up after languishing in the funeral/Japanese licenses department and the rest can be written for an encylcopedia.

Fast Forward two seasons later and Ghesquiere is in the midst of re-creating the Balenciaga silhouette. The voluminous blouson became his calling card as well as his knack for creating collections that dramatically evolved year after year. Over the course of several seasons, Ghesquiere’s creations hit critical mass. The Spring 2000 collection was the clarion call that said Ghesquiere could work on the same schedule as Marc Jacobs, Galliano and Stella McCartney.

Ghesquiere was praised for his loose sack dresses, his coats with dolman sleeves as well as the pleated pants tapered at the bottom. He was moving Balenciaga forward while paying homage to its history. Ghesquiere is now a part of Balenciaga’s fabric. His name is inseparable from the term second renaissance at Balenciaga, and with good reason his evolution early on has made him one of the top designers in the world.

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[helmut.newton]

Now, I know that Marie-Amelie Sauve did the styling for the advertising campaign (below) but did she also style the show?

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[helmut.newton]

scanned by me from the Balenciaga book

 

[mikeijames]

thank you so much for posting this information about this early balenciaga collection. what strikes me about this collection in particular remains how cool and un-fussy parisian this collection looks even today. if we'd watched these looks walk down the catwalk under the banner of isabel marant, we'd STILL find these looks so deliciously covetable. even more remarkable remains how much nicolas ghesquiere has evolved the brand of balenciaga. back in 2000, balenciaga largely had a cult fan base and made women rabid with their insider handbags, now, we look to balenciaga not only to set trends, but give us delightful offerings from fragrance to jewelry to red carpet dressing.