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Every decade has its designers. Armani, Donna Karen, and Claude Montana led the eighties. John Galliano, Miuccia Prada, and Versace ruled the nineties. This decade's designers will turn out to be Lanvin's Albert Elbaz, YSL's Stefano Pilati, and Balenciaga's Nicolas Ghesquiere.
Nicolas Ghesquiere consistently produces collections that challenge the viewer's perceptions of proportion and fashion, introducing the viewer to technical innovation in fabric, a strong sense of structure and sculpture, and concepts that are often difficult to appreciate at first glance. It can take a full season of looking at Ghesquiere's designs in print and as worn by real women before the eye shifts to accept their proportions, just in time for Ghesquiere to upset them again. Along with only a handful of other designers, Ghesquiere propels fashion forward, plucking it from its everyday tedium and placing it directly in the future.
Despite the wide array of references Ghesquiere includes in his work, he consistently returns to only a few themes, including futurism and neo-sci-fi; structure and sculpture; blackness; neo-bohemianism; retro; menswear; and sportswear. These themes are explored below.
FUTURISM/NEO-SCI-FI
This is an extreme example of what is admittedly one of the more difficult design concepts in Ghesquiere's oeuvre. Ghesquiere explores futurism through both literal interpretion, as in these bubble glasses and gold-plated C3PO leggings, and through more gestural nods, as in the curve and overall cut of this blazer. Futurism/neo-sci-fi is also interpreted through material innovation, as when Ghesquiere introduced top-stitched neoprene as a jacket material in his S/S 2008 collection.
This look also illustrates the principle shape Ghesquiere designs for, which as I imagine is a pole. Ghesquiere's designs are often cut for very thin people, emphasizing a narrow hip and generally lean physique upon which Ghesquiere wraps his layers and bases his sculptures.
STRUCTURE AND SCULPTURE
As the pole is the foundational shape for Ghesquiere's designs, this allows for a certain amount of solid, linear structure upon which to lay a structural frame, and Ghesquiere consistently does so, creating garments that can literally stand on their own. Beyond the mere surface interest of stiff fabric and self-standing garments, Ghesquiere also literally carves out a shape from these structures, creating garments with interest and curvature independent of their wearers.
Along with structure and sculpture comes a lot of volume, another Ghesquiere staple. As the pole is the foundational shape of Ghesquiere's designs, this allows for large amounts of volume uncompromised by the wearer's own shape and particular needs. Though Ghesquiere often has presented massive skirts and shoes in past collections, there is always the element of something whittled away. A skirt and jacket may be voluminous, but a waist will be chipped out of those lines. Oversized boots will be balanced by a delicate wrist. There is always an element of proportion in Ghesquiere's designs, though often not in the standard sense.
BLACKNESS
There are very few designers who can legitimately claim to explore the color black, though there are many who would claim that yes, of course black makes a statement. Differing from this approach is Balenciaga, who explores the properties of the color black itself, whether in the bottomless depths of this top's inky black or how light reflects off black surfaces to create structure within a structure. Ghesquiere's use particularly of latex blacks reveals how integral the color black is in design itself, as the reflection off the color highlights and reveals the garment's structure.
NEO-BOHEMIANISM
Though better known for his more structural clothes, Ghesquiere neatly tucks neo-bohemianism into his designs through pattern and styling. His hugely influential F/W 2007 show featured regional prints and a mix of scarves layered over dresses and blazers that still influences the daily ensembles of tastemakers and wannabes. Ghesquiere's version of neo-bohemianism can be seen in Balenciaga's sari-influenced dresses and patterns, paisleys, floral-print dresses, and the ubiquitous It Bag, the slouchy Lariat.
RETRO
We can blame Marc Jacobs all we want for the continued retro influence in fashion, but Nicolas Ghesquiere has to take some of the blame. Ghesquiere's frequently invokes the ideas and shapes of 60s skirt suits, 70s pant suits, and Balenciaga's own archive of sculptural shapes and innovations. Most recently, Ghesquiere took a departure from his usual retro influences and directly referenced the 80s in his F/W 2009 collection, a look from which is seen here. Reviews of this collection have been mixed: some say it's genius, some say it's bland. Possibly the most succinct, and certainly my favorite, review can be found here.
MENSWEAR
Ghesquiere takes the backbone of menswear - suiting fabrics, dowdy tweeds, and the principle of the matching suit - and repurposes them along razor-sharp lines, fashioning ultra-skinny pants, voluminous skirt suits, and slightly draped pants that recall Rick Owens. Never will you see Ghesquiere design menswear that's cut down for women or that even recalls the shape of proper menswear. There is always the something sharp to it: the sharp line of a narrowly cut pant, the crispness of the structural jacket above. Ghesquiere only rarely allows fluidity and ease into menswear.
SPORTSWEAR
As with menswear, sportswear is one of Ghesquiere's lesser themes, explored here through the literal racing stripe. Sportswear is usually more of an inspiration in fabric, as with Ghesquiere's use of neoprene, seen above in the second image. Ghesquiere's use of sportswear is also notable for its material absence, often more of an allusion than an actual design element, as seen in the above photos' wetsuit allusion and riding hat. The incorporation of sportswear maintains a certain youthfulness and vitality in Ghesquiere's designs, elevating the mood from intense conceptualism without giving in to gimmickry and cheap tricks.
REAL LIFE
Innovation in design is all well and good, but at the end of the day, a design can only be considered good if it can be used. Keeping that in mind, I've included this picture of Lauren Santo Domingo in a Balenciaga dress and jacket as proof that, yes, Nicholas Ghesquiere's designs can be worn to more than just a runway. Granted, Santo Domingo is very thin and, apparently, seven feet tall, but she doesn't look overdone or costumed, just like a lady in her favorite dress and jacket. The clothes do not overwhelm her. She looks more or less like herself who is ultimately wearing just a jacket and a t-shirt dress. Regardless of all the editorial fanfare, Ghesquiere's genius is in cutting very, very good basics that don't look it because, let's face it, a man cannot feed his family off of neoprene short suits alone.
Labels: balenciaga, designer index
6/17/2009 [0]
All truly great designers, whether they be avant-garde, conceptual, or particularly adept with basics, design on two levels: the more visible promotion of the runway and the more saleable retail collection. What is notable about Rick Owens is the consistency of aesthetic between the two collections. Many designers (Miuccia Prada and Marc Jacobs are most notable) produce ostentatious, inspiration-driven collections for the runway while making their mint in handbags and cocktail dresses. With Rick Owens, there is no juxtaposition between the two design levels. His clothes for the runway might be more avant-garde than his basics, but they generally all follow the same aesthetic of "broken idealism," albeit some at a more advanced than others.
This would be an example of an advanced Rick Owens look. I frankly don't get it. I don't think I have the knowledge of fashion design history to put such designs in their proper context, and as such, I am often confused by his runway shows. I don't understand the complicated layering and can't even figure out how to put some of the garments on. It takes a good six months of seeing countless iterations of his designs, whether in Vogue Paris or as Target knock-offs, before I can really absorb and understand them. That's the moment when it clicks, and I revisit his runway shows, realizing the genius that he is (though this will never happen with the above picture).
What ultimately marks Rick Owens's design aesthetic is ease of wear, comfort, and accessibility. Once the complicated layering and intimidating cool of the runway is removed, you're left with simple t-shirts, dresses, and pants comfortable enough to be worn as loungewear, but luxurious enough to be appropriate at venues where simple American Apparel would fail. This is the true genius of Rick Owens - not intimidating coolness, but the ability to continually put his own stamp on the basics, making them interesting and desirable. This is the hardest task a designer can set out to do, which is prossibly why so many designers cop out and take the easier paths of selling youth, sex, and feminity.
That said, I would probably only wear 35% of what Rick Owens designs. As much as I truly appreciate his design philosophy, I prefer to wear spare, urban shapes without excess volume, and Rick Owens very often employs volume in his designs, though empire waists, extreme draping, and oversized footwear. It would be my assumption that all this volume would work as it always does, i.e. hang off me while dragging me down with it. Still, I'm enamored with how he cuts a leather jacket, as in the above example. I am generally not a fan of empire waists, but this jacket is less waisted and more cleverly belted. I am in awe of the sumptuous leather, as well. This is something that would mold to the wearer's particular shape and easily become identifiable with her.
While I'm unable to carry off a lot of volume, I am quite a fan of layering, and this look manages to incorporate both without compromising shape.
Leather gilets may not be basics for everyone, but as someone doesn't wear jewelry, these would provide interest and detail to my outfits without the weight of metal. I'm torn between them. I think I like the brown version better, with its slightly easier shape and contrasting collar. The fit of the black version might end up looking tortured. I would be happy to wear them both, though.
Finally, no discussion of Rick Owens can be complete without reviewing the jacket that started it all. Despite having designed for many years, Rick Owens can be said to really be noticed by the public when Ashley Olsen, and later Lindsay Lohan, were frequently photographed wearing this jacket. This is quintessential Rick Owens: a little bit biker, assymetrical, leather, and very black. Any real Rick Owens fan dreams of owning this jacket someday. Labels: designer index, rick owens
3/17/2009 [4]
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