1. Balenciaga, Spring 2015 Ready-to-Wear

September 24, 2014 | 8pm, Palais de Tokyo, Paris

Spring 2015 Ready-to-Wear, Style.com

Alexander Wang’s fourth ready-to-wear collection for the house of Balenciaga was confident and very much his own. You didn’t have to know he had been to Paris over the summer to see the Tour de France to know he was inspired by cycling and its athleticism. The first models wore tight shorts and body hugging tops with exaggerated crewnecks. They seemed to look like cycling jerseys and were made of a material that had a sporty sheen, reminiscent of Lycra. Large rubber track soles on satin, beaded evening flats gave an unexpected twist. While hair was sleek and severely parted down the middle. And though they were somewhat androgynous, models had sweet, childlike faces; perhaps to counteract the sharp cutting of the clothes. Cool, mirrored cycling-inspired glasses and bicycle chain bracelets finished off a few of the looks with edge.

Spring 2015 Ready-to-Wear, Style.com

While the clothes had a definite tone of modern sport it’s also clear there was still reverence to the brand’s original heritage. Through simple and sophisticated forms, Wang created understated elegance and drama. Black, ground-sweeping jackets and vests were futuristic  and striking with their trapeze shapes. Diamond panels cut through the clothes with quiet and minimalistic seams, criss-crossing the body. Black netting was layered over two-piece performance undergarments to great effect as well, adding a soft juxtaposition to some of the structured forms — a great example, perhaps, of Cristóbal Balenciaga’s use of unexpected pairings. Rounded shoulders on a grid and bead-embellished jacket referenced the ‘cocoon-curve’ coats and suits made famous by the house in the late 1940s and 1950s.

Spring 2015 Ready-to-Wear, Style.com

You could also see the common underlying theme of experimentation in surface textures in treatments like the caviar beading — used on trousers, trim on evening dresses and wrapped around the sides on some of the shoes. Embroidered diamonds hovering over the surface of netted skirts moved like feathers, and felt reminiscent of a gown from the summer 1951 collection (also, a pink gown made with taffeta and ostrich feathers, 1967) made with black organza ruffles.

It was an exciting collection that showed Wang’s creativity in combining his strength in street wear, and Cristóbal Balenciaga’s ethos for ‘contemporary experimentation in form and feeling’. It reflected a woman who is at once bold and singular in her choices, while being timeless and chic. The Balenciaga woman has remained the same — a minimalist who appreciates an attention to detail. And one who is drawn to the alluring push and pull of opposites.