Balenciaga ‘Le Dix’ Spring 2005
In essence, this was not Nicolas’ strongest collection but definitely not his worst. What I liked about this collection was its easiness and natural swagger. Ghesquiere used a navy captain’s suit as a blank canvass and revamped it turning in great and interesting pieces such as hip sailor track pants with a black jacket, an easy white shirt over pants, an interesting velvet sailor suit, nice tweed/studded jacket and an utterly fabulous blue striped nautical blazer. That’s not to say Balenciaga’s now trademarks were not there (i.e. tight silhouettes, football influence), but worked because their usage was more subdued this time. Giving us long and lean blazers with short and tight skirts, a jacket dress with layers underneath flowing out (which proves my point on naturalness: it was pure Balenciaga with this season’s theme) and a hot tight-around-the-waist white jacket white python print inserts.
The dresses were great and good this season. I loved the “Nicolas meets Ralph Lauren’s Prairie look” sculpted dress which were tight, controlling and flared. The pattern-slashed lace slip dresses were oozing with lounge-chic, but strictly not for the red carpet and the likes of Lil' Kim.
While the mixes such as in Spring 2003 and past collections were greater and less predictable, this is quite an achievement for Ghesquiere because he made easy, wearable clothes.