With his fall Balenciaga collection, Alexander Wang made a bold, engaging move — or started to. “I want to approach design with something much more subversive and irreverent in looking at these classical notions,” he said during a preview. “I try to respect the heritage and the history, but also add a twist.”
Twist he did: Out of the gate, mixing meaty fabrics — tweeds, windowpanes, bouclés — in looks grounded in the architectural curvature of the house founder, sometimes with heightened severity. And he piled on glamour jewelry derived from (without copying) the in-house heirloom loot, fastening a sexy wrap skirt with a flower brooch; closing a coat with a dramatic diamanté dagger. Between silhouette and sparkle, there was a lot of lady going on. Only Wang perverted the message sagely by exposing this lady’s inner tough girl. She wore flat, aggressive boots, covered her ears in multiple baubles and amped up the hardware. Her long, shirred mink gloves flashed single, big grommet holes on the back of the hands, and her chic ensembles featured rows of staples in place of finely sewn seams. She looked fashion-fearless.
