Balenciaga

Jesus Christ could walk on water and it seems that in fashion there is someone as well. Demna Gvasalia who designs the Balenciaga clothes and shows excited the fashion community with his Sunday morning fashion mess by letting his models walk on water in spectacular clothes that were all about cut and line. Showing in his usual St. Denis movie making sound stage which he customizes every season, Gvasalia proved that he loves being the director of a spectacle as much as the leader of tailored high-end street wear. We mean it, nobody puts on a better show in terms of staging, sound, timing and high fashion. Idolizing religion and sports through the craft of making clothes was at the core of this happening.

The special ingredient?

Nobody is better at elevating everyday life and nearly cheesy totems like tourist tchotchke Eiffel towers, top model contest logo shirts or this time motocross outfits or more trivial but universally recognized football jerseys to sought after fashion items. Balenciaga brought to life a Balenciaga Football Club to represent the obsessive quality of team sports in a fashion context.

Ralf Moeller, really?

What a great idea to use a big volume man when you like big silhouettes. As ever the master of casting, Gvasalia hired German action movie hero and body builder Ralf Moeller to walk the show, which left the audience gasping.

What’s becoming clear?

Balenciaga is a house on fire, which has passed over one Billion Euro in sales. Fashion’s formula is simple, every house needs a signature to succeed and Gvasalia has made the second skin, super tight look his very own. This time in evening dresses where shoes, gloves and leggings came all in one piece.

Valentino

It has to be said. The days of fashion for women who lunch are over. This term was famously coined by WWD under John Fairchild when there was a world of rich women in New York who got dressed up in expensive clothes by designers like Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, Valentino or Americans like Geoffrey Beene and Ralph Lauren to go to lunch at places like La Grenouille or the Quilted Giraffe. Well, it seems those days are over and fancy New Yorkers now go to Yoga classes with a cold pressed juices instead of parading their frocks in fancy restaurants. The amazing thing that Pierpaolo Piccioli has pulled off at Valentino is that he has stayed true to the codes of the house of making fabulous eveningwear while at the same time speaking for the times we live in with his clothes. The last two years he has catapulted himself to be the fashion world’s number one Haute Couturier and he has trickled down those fantasies in his ready to wear collections.

Often Haute but always right. For his latest show, he switched gears completely and presented a tough black tailoring collection with punk platform shoes, which covered all new ground. He can just do it.

The twist?

Valentino has been the Walhalla of ultra-feminine clothes the past few years. This time, Piccioli turned to his men’s wear ideas of precise black tailoring in coats and capes and often black leather to give a new allure. To make sure, he included men on the runway.

The shoes?

We have noticed that Dr Martens boots are everywhere. Models, fashion editors, interns or random women on the Metro. Valentino added its own platform spin on the subject.

The house?

While executives come and go at the moment, it seems that boss Stefano Sassi is all about bringing in fresh blood to further spread his designer’s unique vision. New chief brand officer Alessio Vannetti hails from Gucci and started his job with this show. This house only needs to connect dots, it has the jam.