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Balenciaga by Nicholas Ghesquiere: Groundbreaking Balenciaga
By Godfrey Deeny
Photos by Gruber-FWD
Feb 14, 2002/ FWD/ --- Finally, from the point of view of originality, the American season
hit fashion pay dirt at the Balenciaga collection presented here Wednesday.
Perhaps the fall 2002 collection Balenciaga's designer Nicolas Ghesquiere sent out did not
break quite as much new ground as his two previous outings for the venerable French house.
But in terms of line, silhouette and attitude the collection was definitely path breaking.
That said, Ghesquiere is clearly very aware of commercial considerations, as was highly evident
as he packed the opening half of his show with a series of sure-fire, straight-off-the-rack
winners.
Security was tight for the show at the Downtown Gagosian Gallery in Chelsea, where the audience
was restricted to just 200 fashion front-rowers.
A pale Sarah Jessica Parker sat in one corner close to Anna Wintour, while the Vogue
editor-at-large Andre Leon Talley was bizarrely placed in the opposite corner 100 feet away.
The first quarter of this capsule collection of not quite 30 pieces was dominated by a lean
look composed of high-waisted jeans ribbed to make them seem even longer, worn with leather
bomber jackets with marvelous high collars fastened with straps and buckles.
Ghesquiere played around with this figure-hugging jacket, showing it in black twill or
herringbone wool with aged leather sleeves, and pairing it with his signature curvy-edged skirt,
which again elongated the legs.
Nicolas is a severe cutter, and his clothes demand a thin figure to make them work.
But you could imagine all the women watching from the front row happily stepping out of
the gallery into the cold air in exactly these looks.
One-third into the show, Ghesquiere suddenly changed gear and his look suddenly ballooned up
to Martin Margiela proportions, with oversized gray cashmere sweater dresses featuring lumpy
pads and bulbous slate silk vests. Though cool and quirky, these didn't quite work.
Next, Ghesquiere reworked his lean pants in denim, pairing them with rumpled Prince of Wales
double-breasted jackets, before using the same fabric as a top for overalls.
These, plus mixed media tops composed of cotton straps, naïve prints, stripes and odd panels,
looked edgy even if it was difficult to work out how to put them.
His finale, which drew several gasps from Diane von Furstenberg, featured five ecru and
off-white, sometimes paneled, pants paired with hyper boucle tops made of a series of shaggy
wool finishes. Think shepherd chic.
After Ghesquiere had taken his bow with a toothy smile, Domenico De Sole, CEO of the Gucci
Group, which last year bought Balenciaga, commented, "I couldn't be more happy. Beautiful
looking and very commercial."
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