Beyond expectations, Alexander Wang took a fashion step forward to the house of Balenciaga in his second collection working with the house. With the opened-ceiling venue of Observatoire de Paris, where no fashion runways have ever been held in, Wang’s fresh inspired collection bloom through its fleeting soft color palette. The idea behind Wang’s creation for this collection was to transform the touch of Cristòbal’s purity style into a union of experimental ideas that can take Balenciaga to a whole other class. Conversely, the seed of the his newest collection derived upon discovering photos of old clothes crumbled in sand which bloomed the thought of “unraveling” garments over time. The contrasting idea made Wang to work on his collection with the idea of “unfinished equations of garment composition” turning them into a sleek, never-seen-before, well-composed collection.
Wang allowed his collection to unravel down the runway, in essence of incorporating contrasting elements with deconstructed pieces. And fairly to say, there was obviously a touch of Wang seen, what with the sporty streetwear shown through running shorts in identical leather twine, worn to match a cropped T-shirt or a simple tank. The unraveling equations can be seen in his intricate molded compositions with fishnets on leather; an abstract floral that was first printed yet then painted in rubber. Among the rest of his best looks, a pair of long leather dresses with cutouts detailing done by water-jet lasers – to capture the essence of ease and flow. These were all the season’s newly high-developed fabrics and the use of advanced technology that fused the inspiring designer and a fashion house with wide resources. Despite the composition of retro subtlety, he softened the structures with the use of pants and skirts wrapped in attached-peplums. Pastel dresses with constructed frills was supposed to seem like a peel away from the corsetry, where in fact, this was how he captured the idea of “garments unraveling”. No doubt that this garment concept is among the creative sensation this season.
Working for Balenciaga is no picnic for Alexander Wang where his thrive to inject new ideas in the house will always challenge his creative talent with garments. With his two collections with Balenciaga, it is apparent to see the overpowering image that Wang has created for the house. With a concept so unexpected, he blew the industry’s minds away with sheer evening dresses and a grandeur balance between elegance and simplicity. (Text Nadilla Sari Ratman)