If Paris designers aren’t using instant fashion, what else to titillate a ho-hum retail market? How about a dose of fetishism?
That’s what Demna Gvasalia served up for his sophomore women’s collection for Balenciaga, encasing bodies in spandex or latex and often topping things off with a fridge-sized coat (even if the clothes were more commercial than steamy.)
The designer recently discovered in the archive a big camel coat founder Cristóbal Balenciaga had been making for himself. It became the springboard for his strong spring men’s wear debut, which juxtaposed doorframe and beanpole silhouettes.
It was the same story on Sunday morning, as linebacker or shrunken shoulders stalked tall, curtained corridors. In profile, the shoulders were pointy, as if the wearer forgot to remove a wire hanger.
You can perceive such clothes — done in occasionally garish colors and thrift-shop florals — as juvenile or the pinnacle of cool, depending on your point of view. Yet they are true to Gvasalia’s mission of making strong silhouettes the defining feature of his Balenciaga. The fetish theme isn’t completely alien to the house, for the founder was obsessed with the relationship between the body and the fabric covering it — although he was partial to silk organza and gazar.
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You couldn’t hide a matchstick in the high-heeled legging boots that had Kim Kardashian in a lather after the show. Those pants and the tight polo shirts and peplum blouses open the house to the tight and sexy crowd.
A closely watched talent, Gvasalia sent ripples through the fashion world with the oversize shapes and streetwise edge of his Vetements collection. At Balenciaga, he also put his weight behind the gargantuan handbag.
He reprised luxed-up versions of cheap market carryalls, and introduced a round, puffy shape as big as a hassock that models struggled to carry. After mincing around on legging boots, Kim and company could perhaps use it to put their feet up.