Balenciaga S/S 2015 Paris

[t-rex]

Bouchra Jarrar for Balenciaga!

 

[nataliaapple]

Uninspired.

 

[TaylorBinque]

I think he does make beautiful clothes at Balenciaga but I feel like there's no growth nor invovative ideas he has to offer. It becomes almost predictable and borderline a little boring.

 

[dior_couture1245]

I barely pay a visit/attention to shops I don't like the designers related to ... But I was always fond of the shop on 22nd - oh wait it was Ghesquiere (first because it was in my Chelsea galleries walk, second just a few steps after CDG ...). But, I assume they closed this one after Sandy and opened on Mercer St. Isnt Wang store on Mercer, too ? How is it inside ? Is it still Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster who designs the shop ? What will they do with that space on 22nd - it is still there, empty (I do guess) and with a Balenciaga sign (if I remember correctly) ... ?

omg. am i making sense ?

The Chelsea space where the Ghesquiere-era shop was was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy and closed down permanently. The NY corporate offices for Balenciaga still reside in the space above and I believe use the ground level for internal purposes now, as well.

The new shop on Mercer is designer by Wang's friend Ryan Korban. It's a very predictable luxury store - lots of marble, etc. with poor attempts at mixing materials (I recall lots of cloudy lucite stair railings?) but it lacks any charm, personality or innovation. It just looks old, in my opinion.

And Wang's shop is on Grand and Greene, I believe...in the old Yohji Yamamoto store space.

 

[BerlinRocks]

thanks for the reply !
i really wondered about the Balenciaga shop in Chelsea, because as I said there's still the "sign" above the door ... But since they use it as an office space, that makes sense.
Chelsea was a mess after Sandy. Galleries closed (some for ever), Printed Matter lost a lot of archives... etc.

Anyway ... Ryan Korban ... ok. Already read his name, saw images... All I know is that he knows his (luxurious) classics, and stuff, but don't have much a signature.

But oops I'm getting off the subject. Here.
Again thanks for the reply ...

 

[CommanderTMugler]

All he did was present 4 looks and called it a day. This is just lazy.

 

[Not Plain Jane]

there are some nice pieces, but largely feels repetitive and lacking in innovation or edge, which balenciaga should have.

 

[Symetrie]

Nicolas Ghesquiere is probably sad to see what has become of this house he (re)built for years: Kanye, Kim, and North West in the front row hoopla (Balenciaga being desperate for press?!) and this whole mess that Alexander Wang puts out season after season. It's Balenciaga's loss letting Ghesquiere leave ah oh well we still got few more days to see the real master again in Vuitton B)

 

[lemeray]

All he did was present 4 looks and called it a day. This is just lazy.

Spot on.

 

[gazebo]

This is not good, for Balenciaga or otherwise. He is just too young and inexperienced to create so many collections. Balenciaga should lead the way, not follow others.

 

[MyNameIs]

Nicolas Ghesquiere is probably sad to see what has become of this house he (re)built for years: Kanye, Kim, and North West in the front row hoopla (Balenciaga being desperate for press?!) and this whole mess that Alexander Wang puts out season after season. It's Balenciaga's loss letting Ghesquiere leave ah oh well we still got few more days to see the real master again in Vuitton B)

Let's not pretend the last few seasons under Ghesquire were any good either. I don't mean to diminish what he may have done for the house during his tenure, but it was clear towards the end of it that he was running out of gas.

Not saying Wang's stay with the house has been entirely successful. And I agree with your points about Kim/Kanye and being desperate for press. His collections seem to be very uneven - some looks are totally great and some are just WTF. But that's how I usually feel about his namesake collections too and that's worked out just fine for him.

As for this collection, I do agree that it's not very innovative. In fact, when you compare it to what Ghesquire was doing the last few seasons for the house, it almost feels safe. But then, I thought Ghesquire was putting out weird collections just for the sake of being weird. He was the critics' darling, he was at Balenciaga and he knew could get away with it. But it may have been the reason for his getting sacked.

Back to this collection, I don't know if Wang has as much freedom to be out there. If he does, it doesn't show. The pieces look very chic, very elegant, very expensive and sophisticated, but somewhat conventional. It doesn't seem like a trendsetter, but a trend follower. It might be good for the bottom line (at least in the short term) but I think "Balenciaga" is going to lose some of its street cred among the fashion crowd.

 

[KKnardi]

I think it's his best collection for the house yet! There's some really wearable and attractive pieces here. Might not be a tour de force but thumbs up from me

 

[VogueDisciple93]

This is not a bad collection, the clothes for the most part are not aweful, however this is a painfully banal effort. I went through the collection hoping the next look would be the last so to not waste anymore time.

 

[Norden]

The whole problem with Wang (aside from the fact that I despise his aesthetic and hand) is that he doesn't offer any proposition for Balenciaga. So should women dress like this now? is that it? Such a lazy uninspired collection belongs in New York.

The excessive obsession on a sleeve, the ambitious fabric research of Balenciaga seem missing here. What is presented is a boring pret a porter collection, sparkled up with some long coats, rudimentary embellishments and distracting sunglasses.

Tragedy.

 

[sore]

This is not even funny anymore, even Zara looks more inspired at this point.

 

[elle_gb]

This is my least favorite collection from him but still it's pretty good. I feel like he keeps the essence of the brand an turn it completely different.

 

[shanhuq]

This is absolute G A R B A G E. There's no other way of putting in. I mean there's SO much wannabe Nicolas in here that I wanted to know if maybe it's intentional… The color palette and lengths he used are just...

 

[gossiping]

it looks ok until the details, it really does not look that expensive!!!! i really like those dresses with the ruching though, they're the only thing that is acceptable

 

[Spike413]

All he did was present 4 looks and called it a day. This is just lazy.

And Nicholas didn't???

I get not liking the clothes that Wang is turning out but to knock him for doing exactly what Ghesquiere did at Balenciaga is hilarious. In fact, that's the most apparent thing that Wang has in common with his predecessor.

I don't hate this, but he has yet to live up to his first collection which was, I though, very promising.

 

[disco54]

Terribly boring, terribly unflattering, terrible everything.

He's getting progressively worse with each collection, and if he doesn't start trying something new! then I don't see him lasting much longer at the house.

He was brought in to make Balenciaga more massy, but none of what I have seen thus far is remotely covetable or attractive. I also don't think he will last at Balenciaga, he simply does not have the skills for high fashion.