For almost everyone, I think Balenciaga is one of those brands that you either understand or you don&rsquo,ED Hardy clothes;t. Yes – they make more or less the same bags in different colors year after year. Yes – many of them haven’t changed drastically in design since they were first introduced. Yes – many people are happy to do what basically amounts to buying the same bag in a bunch of colors. And some people may think that’s nuts, but I think it’s AWESOME. I love Balenciaga, and anyone that’s familiar with the Balenciaga section on the Forum knows that the Bal girls get in to the details of their bags in a way that few other brand’s customers do. Leather texture and hardware are discussed heavily, even though the differences may not be huge to the casual observer. As a result, when one thing changes about how Balenciaga builds their bags, tongues are set wagging about it for months, if not years.
23. Whether or not you believe that clothing and accessories can qualify as art, you have to look at the Balenciaga Metallic Crocodile Wristlet and see, first and foremost, an art object. It’s uses (and, most likely, it’s production) are decidedly limited, but if I was to get my hands on it, I think I’d probably just hold it and stare at it anyway. The crocodile skin is treated in such a way that it almost reminds me of mother of pearl – it’s shiny, but in a way that does a beautiful job picking up the colors and the light around them, making the bag look eternally different. It’s finished with polished blue-green accents, which might be either polished stone or lucite, it’s impossible to tell, and a bold box-chain wrist strap. It doesn’t look like it would hold much, and I’m sure it costs an arm and a leg, but it’s just so stinkin’ beautiful that I don’t really care.
24. And now, for something completely different…Balenciaga Fall 2009 is certainly a big departure from the ultra-structured, futuristic, at times minimalist collections we’ve seen from Nicolas Ghesquière over the past couple of years. There’s nothing space-aged about these strongly Parisian clothes, and that only serves to prove what a versatile designer Ghesquière is and will continue to become. Anyone that can do suits so structured that just looking at them improves my posture and silk dresses so languid and airy that I want to laze around all day in them is worth whatever amount of money the Balenciaga’s parent company is paying him. A one-trick pony, he is obviously not.