Chain Reaction

fig a. Wang bases his collection on the Raf Sander 'Tomb Raider' silhouette of panty shorts and rubber boots. He then cross-references the Raf Dior slash fabric technique, almost creating the exact clone in black and hot pink.

fig b. Raf Sandior openly declared his admiration for Helmut Lang and Martin Margiela, yet his designs are built on the tradition of Ghesquière for Balenciaga. Pictured above is the dramaturgical step-up. From sci-fi glasses and stiff sleeveless coats (2007) to vulgar florals and rubber (2011) to stained-glass prints (2012).

fig c. In contrast, Nicolas Ghesquière does not even reference himself. He explores a 1970s feminist architecture for Louis Vuitton without being architectural. His reference is based on culture not fellow creators. And since our future will most likely look like the past, retro-collars and tinted sunglasses are the valid signifiers of our times. Francisco Costa's collection for Calvin Klein evokes a parallel mood that arose from genuine exploration instead of wretched duplication. Applause, please.

1. Alexander Wang for Balenciaga Pre Spring/Summer 2015 & Raf Simons for Jil Sander Fall/Winter 2010
2. Alexander Wang for Balenciaga Pre Spring/Summer 2015 & Nicolas Ghesquière for Balenciaga Spring/Summer 2013
3. Alexander Wang for Balenciaga Pre Spring/Summer 2015
4. Raf Simons for Christian Dior Spring/Summer 2013
5. Nicolas Ghesquière for Balenciaga Spring/Summer 2007
6. Nicolas Ghesquière for Balenciaga Fall/Winter 2011
7. Nicolas Ghesquière for Balenciaga Spring/Summer 2012
8. Raf Simons for Christian Dior Pre Spring/Summer 2015
9. Nicolas Ghesquière for Louis Vuitton Pre Spring/Summer 2015
10. Francisco Costa for Calvin Klein Pre Spring/Summer 2015

The world is Ouroboros and the future is returning. Wang turns to Simons turns to Ghesquière. As usual, the sequel is entertaining and perfectly fulfills all expectations. Yet, the satisfaction comes too early and disappears too soon. A plot summary:

Alexander Wang for Balenciaga = Raf Simons for Jil Sander & Christian Dior (trying)
Raf Simons for Christian Dior = Nicolas Ghesquiere for Balenciaga (borrowing)
Nicolas Ghesquière for Louis Vuitton = Nicolas Ghesquière for Louis Vuitton (being)

Their new heroine seeks to look strong and sexy. Phrases that please everyone. Blockbuster couture. But no one is handing out popcorn.
/HORST

Image credits Vogue, Catwalking

The Cyber Woman, Robots

1. D&G Spring/Summer 2001
2. Hussein Chalayan Fall/Winter 2009
3. Karl Lagerfeld Vogue, 2010
4. Balenciaga Spring/Summer 2007

The fembot is the anti-emotional archetype of feminism, introduced in the 1927 silent film 'Metropolis' and repeatedly quoted ever since. Yet, the stainless steel surface remains projection screen for erotic fantasies. Femancipation is the construct of virtual porn.
/HORST

Sherman Questions XV

1. Cindy Sherman at Louis Vuitton Fall/Winter 2014
2. Balenciaga Spring/Summer 2011

So what would Cindy Sherman wear? The real Cindy Sherman. Not her 'other' portrayed self. She does, in fact, wear the 'lesbian collection' - those celebrated buckle boots. In blue crocodile leather. By Balenciaga. By Nicolas Ghesquière. And short hair. At this morning's Louis Vuitton show.
/HORST

Image credits WWD

#Wangciaga, Reality

1. Balenciaga Spring/Summer 2014
2. Alexander Wang Spring/Summer 2014

This is not a scandal. It is the logic, osmotic relationship of molecules that strive to equalize the solute concentrations of two sides. Balenciaga is being wangalized. In the end, everything is even.
/HORST

Superficial Implant

Part II of 'Duplicate Diptych Week'



1. Balenciaga Spring/Summer 1997
2. Gucci Fall/Winter 1996

From 'amorphous forms' (cf. Hans Arp) to 'organic plates' at Balenciaga and Gucci by Tom Ford, strict geometry is broken into fluid shapes. Designed as a golden armour, hidden as second-skin, revealed by cutouts.
/HORST

A Short History Of The Comic Strip In Popular Culture II

1. David Salle Spanner, 2009
2. Balenciaga Fall/Winter 2001
3. Neo Rauch Handel, 1999
4. Roy Lichtenstein Masterpiece, 1962
5. Comme des Garçons Spring/Summer 2010
6. Disney Oswald The Lucky Rabbit, 1925
7. Viktor & Rolf Fall/Winter 2008

The elliptic speech bubble. First it appears empty. A cipher (of white letters on white ground) for a post-idealistic, neo-realistic world. An empty void for empty words of empty individuals (David Salle and Neo Rauch). And, when this bubble is filled, we are confronted with words like 'I don't want the world to end.' (Comme des Garçons) or 'Look out world! I'm coming back!' (Oswald, the Lucky Rabbit) and finally 'No'/'Dream' (Viktor & Rolf). Subsequently, we are tempted to assume that - either way - speech bubbles are place holders for cries for help (and rescue). To be continued...
/HORST

Post Paris XXV

25th anniversary double feature with John-Michael O'Sullivan, discussing:
Balenciaga Fall/Winter 2013

"It's about America. It's not about couture." Those were the words Helmut Lang used to explain why he turned down Balenciaga in 1996, and instead packed up his label for a new life in New York. Couture was the past, then; and no-one could have dreamed then that the past would come to so utterly dominate the future.

There have been four designers at Balenciaga - or rather, at the brand set up by a company who purchased the name from Balenciaga's family long after he'd died, and even longer after he'd abruptly closed his business. Michel Goma, the old-school couturier; Josephus Thimister, the tortured dreamer; Nicolas Ghesquiére, the temp who managed against all expectations to escape the archives and translate Balenciaga into the 21st century; and Alexander Wang, the American picked because the label's owners decided they wanted it to be 'approachable'.

But instead of a brand new start, the cracked black-and-white marble floor on Wang's runway felt funereal, like the marble in Slimane's intensely divisive remaining of Saint Laurent. Chill, cold, unyielding: less a new start than a requiem mass. Chill, ice-white bark textures, cold colours, unyielding shapes: and yet the 'approachable' , marketable, profitable energy of a young American designer kept breaking through the cracks.

/JOHN-MICHAEL

The premier appoggiatura of 'Wangciaga' confronts us with a backwards-minded collection that puts the hard-edged feminity of Nicolas Ghesquière into question. Its anti-tools: the nostalgic, ladylike elegance of Cristóbal Balenciaga combined with the retro-fiction of Kenneth Price and cyber-organic wood-carvings of H.R. Giger.
/HORST








1. Balenciaga Fall/Winter 2013
2. Balenciaga Vogue Paris, July 1948
3. Balenciaga Henry Clarke, 1951
4. Saint Laurent Boutique, 2012
5. Balenciaga Evening ensemble, 1967
6. Kenneth Price Mountainside Sculpture, 2009
7. H.R. Giger New York City X, 1981
8. Balenciaga Fall/Winter 2013

More reviews by John-Michael O'Sullivan 1972 Projects