Balenciaga S/S 2012 Paris

[Label Basher]

I use to die for Balenciaga but this is just not interesting. I do like the colours and the shoes look interesting but the hat/hoods are amusing and the hotpant/shorts look like nappies.

I can't believe everyone stood up. Tom Ford should try this next time.

 

[IsabelMarantBoy]

Yeah I'm still on the fence with this one. The shapes are a bit alienating and hard for almost anyone to pull off. But at the end sequence with the hats and shapes of the jackets over dresses it almost gives me this haute bourgeois feeling but very futuristic. But its not making me gasp with excitement, its just kind of there

 

[mistress_f]

the hats are amazing. i want the black ones so bad. the rest is ... all over the place. there are pieces i like, but overall it kinda looks like a mess. some of the shoes are the ugliest thing i've ever seen.

 

[dajrekshn]

i'm gonna watch this a bit more, but those long dresses are hideous. there are few more than interesting pieces. hm.

 

[helmut.newton]

This is by far the most interesting collection to come out of Spring Summer 2012 but in terms of wearability and reality, I think its verging on disaster.

I find his past two collections to be so unflattering to the female form. Is it just me who thinks so? Ghesquiere was so brilliant about combining Parisian streetwear and French haute-couture. Essentially it was the perfect amalgamation between architecture and wearability. But now, it seems that the legacy of Balenciaga, and the pressure to be the most cutting edge designer / design house, is getting to him.

Interesting collection, but definitely one of his weakest. Also, I felt a great New York vibe here. I saw a lot of looks / ideas that have been explored by Proenza Schouler too.

 

[GivenchyHomme]

It took me a while to warm up to F/W11 and I expect the same from this as I feel indifferent to this collection at the moment.

The hats seem to be modified version of this archival piece:

fashionsensei, style.com

 

[Miss Dalloway]

Truly stunning cohesive collection, i didn't like any of his offerings for few seasons now, but this, i think is wonderful, cant wait to see the video.

 

[Ives927]

I'm really not sure what to make of this collection, or Balenciaga in general in the recent years. It's taking a much longer time for me to digest each collection.

In my opinion, Balenciaga would fair well if Nicolas would drop the futurism for one collection and do something more organic and utilitarian.

 

[purplethistle]

For some reason the jackets made me think of Marty McFly's jacket from "Back to the Future II" lol. I generally don't like this.

 

[tctra]

why did this get a standing ovation?

 

[fincher]

I´ve written the same question but then I´ve deleted it... look at pics, no standing ovation - there were no chairs in the show

 

[FND74]

why did this get a standing ovation?

I dont think it was a standing ovation. Someone tweeted (was it Tommy Ton) that everybody had to stand up for the show coz the benches broke or something like that and that it felt like u were in Church.

 

[Fatalefashion]

I loved this collection, it is so innovative, and claim to be better than all other past collections. I'm actually in love with high-waisted pants. it was gorgeous.

 

[Frida]

I like this, very wearable, inspiring and easily translated to something sellable yet still having that same feeling of invention, plus I'm glad they're back to the previous location.

 

[chloesaab]

i love it except for some really hideous pieces
my fav are thses 3:

nowfashion via flashbang

 

[Fashion_Girl22]

HQs

 

[Fashion_Girl22]

 

[Fashion_Girl22]

style.it

 

[Fiercification]

I used to think Nicola's forte were his F/W collections, but I much prefer his Spring ones recently. Really love this collection, the softer fabrics that he began to use last season work so well here. I love the shape of the shorts and the crow-bars over the oversize jackets in the beginning. The prints were nicely done as well although I can't quite tell the inspiration, some seemed to have an East Asian influence. The hats will take some getting used to, paired with the longer looks, the section felt a bit awkward.

 

[mackos]

Style.com's review.

PARIS, September 29, 2011

By Nicole Phelps

At least five benches collapsed as people took their seats at the Rue Cassette space of the Balenciaga show. Too much soufflé last night, maybe? No one was badly hurt, just startled, but before another one could go crashing to the floor, a voice came on the loudspeaker and asked the audience to stand. It sort of felt like church. Which was fitting; the fashion set has long worshipped at the altar of Nicolas Ghesquière.

Even without the bench brouhaha, though, this would've been a memorable Ghesquière collection. He's often gone back to Cristobal's archives, but with other designers looking to midcentury couture this season, what set apart his own dip into history was the way he adapted traditionally haute constructions to the street. On the one hand, he asked himself, what are the elements of a classic urban wardrobe? And on the other, how do I Cristo-fy them with the legendary couturier's floating, almost suspended shapes?

Quotidian jean jackets inspired spongy color-blocked numbers with shoulders as exaggerated as the short shorts paired with them were small. Denim made an appearance, too, but these weren't the rear end- and leg-enhancing pants that are Ghesquière's bread and butter. Rather, they were belted high on the waist and pleated for a fuller shape through the thigh. Sailor uniforms got an airing in the form of striped ottoman V-neck oversize tunic dresses. And even white T-shirts got the haute treatment, in a foamy fabric in slouchy, asymmetrical cuts. Some of these shapes were more challenging than others, but they'll resonate with his fashion-mad fans.

Ghesquière really pushed the silhouette with the dresses at the end of the show. Patchworked from archival black and white prints or panels of tan and black, they came with Watteau backs that ballooned behind the models. With their large, elliptical brims, their visors (borrowed from a famous Irving Penn photograph) accentuated the bold diagonal lines.

If the Twin Peaks soundtrack playing before the show was any clue, unsettling the eye was at least part of Ghesquière's point. (David Lynch, by the way, is having a moment; he designed Paris' most talked-about new nightclub, Silencio.) No one can look backward and come up with propositions we've never seen before like Ghesquière can. Amen to that.