• Intelligencer
  • The Cut
  • Vulture
  • The Strategist
  • Curbed
  • Grub Street
  • Subscribe to the Magazine Give a Gift Subscription Buy Back Issues Current Issue Contents
    Subscribe to New York Magazine
  • Subscribe
  • Profile
    Sign Out
The Cut
  • Style
  • Self
  • Culture
  • Power
Style
  • Fashion
  • Beauty
  • Shopping
  • Design Hunting
  • New York Weddings
  • Parties & Red Carpet
  • Fashion Shows
  • Cathy Horyn
Self
  • Health & Wellness
  • Motherhood
  • Advice
  • Sex & Relationships
  • Science of Us
  • Horoscopes
  • Ask Polly
Culture
  • Books
  • Television
  • Movies
  • Music
  • Celebrity
Power
  • Politics
  • Work
  • Money
  • Rebecca Traister
More
  • Latest Stories
  • Video
  • About Us
  • The Cut Shop
  • nymag.com
  • New York Magazine
  • Intelligencer
  • Vulture
  • The Cut
  • The Strategist
  • Grub Street
review
September 26, 2013

Robin Givhan: Wang Brings Hipness and Joy to Balenciaga

By Robin Givhan

Share

  • Share
  • Tweet
Photo: Imaxtree

For a moment Thursday morning, Paris let go of its burden of being the place where fashion is taken as seriously as religion. At Balenciaga, once the most somber of all houses, it felt as if the entire city heaved a sigh of relief and cracked the tiniest smile.

The models emerged onto the runway wearing pale pink skirts and matching tops cut with the simplicity of a child’s sketch. The elaborate basket weave of the leather was reminiscent of the handmade friendship bracelets a kid might construct at summer camp — intricate, yet sweet. The skirts stood away from the body, sculpted and unyielding, rather than floating on air. The same was true of the tops, with their rounded shoulders and metallic closures that were more industrial than delicate.

The blend of elements in these opening pieces from the spring 2014 collection that designer Alexander Wang created was a mixture of contradictions: sweet pastels and hard lines, confidence and understatement. They were part of a collection that included skirts and trousers cut with sleek peplums that mimicked the protective outer shell of some mysterious beetle. Three-dimensional prints of abstract flowers gave the effect of lace atop linen. Dresses with butterfly sleeves dropping off the shoulder were embroidered with jet beading that called to mind glossy flies.

There was a brief urban interlude, during which Wang played with the classic tuxedo, creating stark dresses out of the formal jackets with their signature satin lapels and breezy minidresses based on the traditional crisp white shirts.

But as the final models navigated the warren of rooms at the Paris Observatory, with its stone-colored walls layered with climbing ivy, it was as if they had emerged from a fanciful forest. Even the minidresses with their pretty ribbon embroidery, topped by sheer scrims that reached to mid-calf, called to mind butterflies wrapped in a delicate cocoon.

Wang came galloping out for his bows, his hair streaming behind him and a big smile on his face. There was plenty for him to be happy about. Balenciaga continues on the path that it has been on for some time, with its technologically inscrutable fabrics and trompe l’oeil prints. Sure, there were misfires in this collection (notably, the cupcake dresses with corseted waists and poufy hemlines). But Wang has lightened up Balenciaga, relieving it of the burden to be so marvelously yet agonizingly cool. Under Nicolas Ghesquière, Balenciaga had an edge that was sharp and intimidating. The clothes practically dared you to take on the challenge of wearing them. Are you hip enough? Thin enough? Woman enough?

Wang’s aesthetic doesn’t come with that kind of pressure. There’s a little breathing room in these clothes — a little space for imperfections. He brings hipness with a happy grin.

Paris needs more easygoing, good cheer. The folks take their fashion so seriously here, and while that is a good thing — fashion is major business, after all — it is exhausting, too. There’s a sense of plodding and enduring, scrutinizing and criticizing. Where’s the fun? Fashion should be a pleasure above all else.

At Balenciaga, guests picked their way across the stone courtyard of the observatory, their sharp heels wobbly on the uneven ground. The street-style photographers were out early, their cameras focused on the guests festooned with designer gear who gamely looked up into the lenses while trying not to lose their balance. Another day, another swarm of photographers moving ever backwards, pushing into each other trying to get the shot that pretty much looks like the one from the day before.

There was nothing serendipitous about the scene. No dashing about joyfully with shutters clicking on a surprisingly chic woman or well-dressed man. The photos — taking them and posing for them — have become part of the job. The effort in each getup is apparent.

There are still plenty of designers striving toward unexpected cool and reveling in unplanned subversiveness. But they seem stuck in their codes. Duty bound to a certain sober dreariness that seems mandatory for the perpetually unimpressed crowd.

The previous night had seen the unveiling of collections from Gareth Pugh and Jun Takahashi of Undercover. Both designers have a devoted following and it seems that over the years they have not changed, not even a bit. At Pugh, guests came wearing head-to-toe black; at Undercover, they dressed in vaguely cartoonish, cheeky gear. They are as reliably turned out as the suit-wearing politicos of Capitol Hill or the sweatsuit-wearing moms of suburbia.

Pugh’s models were not as darkly cloaked as his fan base; indeed, his first look was a silky floor-length dress in pale green. And his tailoring technique is evident in cropped jackets with bold collars and unseen shoulder seams. But like so many designers who work in the vocabulary of the rebel, he liked his dresses long and dragging, his jackets confining and his models looking like they might have some startling deformity. Pugh’s women had stylized makeup that made them look as if they’d only just evolved from sea creatures, with gills and scales standing in for eyebrows. Throughout, there was a kind of antagonism of the feminine. Show no legs! Hide the bosom! It’s as if the more masculine the aesthetic, the cooler it is.

Takahashi took a similar approach, although his work is more boyish than mannish. His collection revolved around anagrams and antonyms. The word evil was written on one side of a frock and the word live on the other. Trust was juxtaposed with violate. And so on. For his finale, the words lit up, flashing across the chest and back of shirt. The ideas were admirable — or at least interesting — but we’ve all seen this before. The single solemn word or phrase inscribed across a garment and meant to resonate as it is juxtaposed with the ostentation and consumerism of fashion. Folks have been beaten with that stick before. It no longer has the original sting.

Somewhere between suppressed femininity and the effusive femininity of Marco Zanini’s last collection for Rochas — which was like a nuclear explosion of shiny, glittering, glossy shirtwaist dresses, swing coats, and ballerina skirts — there is a kind of cool that resonates today. (Next season, Alessandro dell’Acqua takes the helm at Rochas. Perhaps he’ll find that middle ground.) Somewhere there is a sleek, urban sensibility that comes with a less fretful attitude. There were hints of it at Ann Demeulemeester, where the designer kept to her beloved black but gave it life with shadowy, flocked black flowers against a white vest, hemlines of drab jackets trimmed in glossy black brocade, and trousers in pale peach delineated with streaks of black. The clothes were tough enough for any urban street but they were not mean.

Paris has long ago proved that it can produce fashion that makes us pause and think about the relationship between the individual and social pressures, about the strictures of gender. Demeulemeester gave her audience a respite from such serious thoughts. And Wang showed us a cool girl who could also be a happy one.

Related

Robin Givhan: Paris Begins With Rookies to Watch and Dries Van Noten
View
1 / 31 Photos
Balenciaga  Photo: monica_feudi/FeudiGuaineri/Imaxtree
Balenciaga  Photo: monica_feudi/FeudiGuaineri/Imaxtree
Balenciaga  Photo: monica_feudi/FeudiGuaineri/Imaxtree
Balenciaga  Photo: monica_feudi/FeudiGuaineri/Imaxtree
Balenciaga  Photo: monica_feudi/FeudiGuaineri/Imaxtree
Balenciaga  Photo: monica_feudi/FeudiGuaineri/Imaxtree
Balenciaga  Photo: monica_feudi/FeudiGuaineri/Imaxtree
Balenciaga  Photo: monica_feudi/FeudiGuaineri/Imaxtree
Balenciaga  Photo: monica_feudi/FeudiGuaineri/Imaxtree
Balenciaga  Photo: monica_feudi/FeudiGuaineri/Imaxtree
Balenciaga  Photo: monica_feudi/FeudiGuaineri/Imaxtree
Gareth Pugh  Photo: imaxtree/imaxtree
Gareth Pugh  Photo: imaxtree/imaxtree
Gareth Pugh  Photo: imaxtree/imaxtree
Gareth Pugh  Photo: imaxtree/imaxtree
Undercover  Photo: imaxtree/imaxtree
Undercover  Photo: imaxtree/imaxtree
Undercover  Photo: imaxtree/imaxtree
Undercover  Photo: imaxtree/imaxtree
Undercover  Photo: imaxtree/imaxtree
Rochas  Photo: imaxtree/imaxtree
Rochas  Photo: imaxtree/imaxtree
Rochas  Photo: imaxtree/imaxtree
Rochas  Photo: imaxtree/imaxtree
Rochas  Photo: imaxtree/imaxtree
Rochas  Photo: imaxtree/imaxtree
Rochas  Photo: imaxtree/imaxtree
Ann Demeulemeester  Photo: DANIELE OBERRAUCH INFO@OBYPHOTO.COM
Ann Demeulemeester  Photo: DANIELE OBERRAUCH INFO@OBYPHOTO.COM
Ann Demeulemeester  Photo: DANIELE OBERRAUCH INFO@OBYPHOTO.COM
Ann Demeulemeester  Photo: DANIELE OBERRAUCH INFO@OBYPHOTO.COM
1 / 31

Tags:

  • review
  • reviews
  • balenciaga
  • alexander wang
  • paris fashion week
  • paris fashion week spring 2014
  • spring 2014 fashion week
  • robin givhan
  • gareth pugh
  • undercover
  • jun takahashi
  • rochas
  • marco zanini
  • ann demeulemeester
  • More

More Galleries

campaign trail Jan. 28, 2021
 The Best Fashion Campaigns From Spring 2021  This season’s best from Prada, Versace, Miu Miu, and more. 
By Florence O'Connor
in memoriam Dec. 30, 2020
30 Incredible Fashion Moments From Pierre Cardin  Remembering a creative visionary. 
By Andrew Nguyen
rest in power Dec. 23, 2020
A Photo Memorial for an Iconic Model  She passed away suddenly at the age of 50 this week. 
campaign trail Nov. 18, 2020
‘Tis the Season for New Fashion Ads  See the best ones from Gucci, Prada, Versace, and more. 
By Emily Burns
nyfw spring 2021 Oct. 26, 2020
How a Great Collection Comes Alive  Christopher John Rogers launched its first-ever online shop, along with a new campaign. 
By Andrew Nguyen
campaign trail Sept. 24, 2020
See the Fashion Campaigns for Fall 2020  From Prada, Michael Kors, Celine, Louis Vuitton, and more. 
By Andrew Nguyen
nyfw spring 2021 Sept. 22, 2020
See the Coach Spring 2021 Collection  Worn by Megan Thee Stallion, Kate Moss, Cole Sprouse, and more. 
By Andrew Nguyen
fashion Sept. 16, 2020
The Stunning Awkwardness of Face Masks on the Red Carpet  Celebrities tried to make the best of a strange situation at the 2020 Venice Film Festival. 
one word one shot Sept. 15, 2020
72 Designers on Their Spring/Summer Inspirations  Just in time for Fashion Week. 
By the Cut
red carpet Sept. 8, 2020
This Red Carpet Was Totally Surreal  But also amazing. See all the looks at the Venice Film Festival. 
By Emilia Petrarca and Andrew Nguyen
in memoriam Aug. 31, 2020
Remembering Chadwick Boseman on the Red Carpet  His style was bold, risk-taking, and always impeccable. 
the wedding files Aug. 21, 2020
The Design-Minded Couple Who Didn’t Want to Try Too Hard  The bride got a wonderful surprise the morning of her wedding. 
By Kaitlin Menza
the wedding files Aug. 14, 2020
A Costa Rica Wedding During the Rainy Season  Thunder roared during the toasts. 
By Kaitlin Menza
the wedding files Aug. 7, 2020
A San Francisco Wedding at a Big, Empty Pier  The bride changed into crushed-velvet pants for the disco-infused reception. 
By Kaitlin Menza
the wedding files July 31, 2020
An Elopement Among the Lupines in Iceland  The late afternoon was spent snapping photos near waterfalls and black beaches. 
By Kaitlin Menza
the wedding files July 24, 2020
A Pennsylvania Potluck for 280 People  “I looked at her for the first time and had this feeling like, You. I know you.” 
By Kaitlin Menza
milan fashion week July 22, 2020
Behind the Scenes at Gucci’s Virtual Show  Instead of models, members of the design team sported the eccentric collection. 
By Andrew Nguyen
the wedding files July 17, 2020
A Dance Party Under Puerto Rican Palm Trees  Bad Bunny blasted and pitorro flowed. 
By Kaitlin Menza
the wedding files July 10, 2020
A Zoom Wedding Only Two Digital Creatives Could Produce  The couple coordinated multiple video segments, breakout rooms, and a dance party. 
By Kaitlin Menza
the wedding files July 3, 2020
The Anti-Spectacle Wedding That Turned Into a Spectacle  Brooklyn Bridge Park was the site of their first date, proposal, and wedding. 
By Kaitlin Menza
  • Style
  • Self
  • Culture
  • Power
  • Newsletters
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Help
  • We’re Hiring
  • Press
  • Trademark
  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • Ad Choices
  • Do Not Sell My Info
The Cut is a Vox Media Network. © 2021 Vox Media, LLC. All rights reserved.