The Balenciaga Pre-Fall collection was the work of the internal team, designed between the departure of Alexander Wang and the first runway show by Demna Gvasalia, or so the brand’s press release has it. Vogue Runway sleuths, behind the scenes at the Paris showroom we were invited to for a viewing of the collection during the couture shows in January, emerged slightly skeptical on that point. Even if Gvasalia hadn’t had a chance to design the whole, there was a detectable Vetements-related flavor in the styling of this lookbook and in one or two pieces, to boot. Especially in the thigh-high stiletto heeled boots, as it happens—as seen here, printed in the Balenciaga windowpane grid pattern, the archival Vichy check, or in tiny florals on black. Then there’s the hoodie, shot in profile to emulate the Balenciaga concave-front, sway-back silhouette, and, to clinch the case, the flowing lines of a long, voluminous, undeniably Vetements-like flower-printed dress.
That said, the imagery has a different feeling from that of Vetements; it’s more sophisticated in its use of oversize proportions, and in the choice of Stella Tennant and Julia Nobis, modeling among racks of garment-bagged clothes meant to suggest the Balenciaga archive. If the team delved into that historical resource and then projected forward, guessing what the new creative director might want, then they did a respectable job. Still, though, was it really without guidance? One of the references, picked from the time of Nicolas Ghesquière, was an oversize shearling aviator jacket, refurbished with a printed collar spelling out the brand name, a neat trick Gvasalia reprised with the large Balenciaga labels he put on the puffer jacket and anorak in his debut Fall show. It gives that flying jacket, not to mention the Balenciaga logo stoles-cum-banners, the stamp of early trophies for Gvasalia fans who want to be first in on his new act.
