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TITLE: For Balenciaga, Looking Back is the Only Way Forward
LINK: https://hypebeast.com/2023/3/balenciaga-demna-winter-2023-op-ed-history-future-controversy
DESCRIPTION:As Christian Dior said, Cristbal Balenciaga was the master of us all. Aged just 22 when he opened his first Haute Couture atelier, the Spanish designers vision and taste level transformed an archaic industry, and even more so when he opened Balenciaga in 1937  a brand far from what you know it as today. But after shutting its doors in 1968, Balenciaga was never the same. It went to the depths of fashion House hell by selling branded perfumes, and was later bought by German conglomerate Hoechste. Little else happened until Nicolas Ghesquire got hold of the reigns in 1997, marking the beginning of Balenciagas illustrious run of both bringing in and creating cult designers within its walls. Ghesquires tenure is without fail the most collectible of Balenciagas contemporary archive  with another headline-making stint from the controversial Alexander Wangs stint as Creative Director from 2012-2015  and today, we have Demna, continued to stir the creative pot at Balenciaga until it became charred and overcooked. As youre probably aware, Balenciaga and Demnas controversy has had more twists, turns and revelations than an episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians. Following on from Summer 2023s The Mud Show  which opened with Ye, the rapper and fashion mogul whom Balenciaga has since departed ways from  came a slew of problematic campaigns that riled social media. From BDSM teddy bears to documents in the background of a separate campaign detailing the Supreme Court case ruling of United States v. Williams, which heightened federal protections against child pornography, the campaigns were, ultimately, of poor decision-making and even poorer taste. Since setting the internet on fire, Balenciaga has made considerable attempts to show change. It and its parent company, Kering, partnered with the National Childrens Alliance, Demna spoke out in a tell-all Vogue interview, and through it all, products have continued to sell out. The latter is of particular poignance, because such furor for Balenciagas products is the Demna effect, arguably the sole reason why Balenciaga was the

TITLE: V&A · Contemporary fashion designers on Balenciaga
LINK: https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/contemporary-fashion-designers-on-balenciaga
DESCRIPTION:Share Cristbal Balenciaga's innovative pattern-cutting, use of new materials and bold architectural shapes have been greatly influential on a new generation of fashion designers. Molly Goddard, Gareth Pugh and Josep Font for Delpozo reveal how 'The Master' of couture has inspired their 21st-century design practice. Molly Goddard Molly Goddard draws on many influences: fashion photography, sketches by her sister and 1950s Balenciaga. Inspired by dress for special occasions, she uses techniques such as hand-pleating, smocking and crocheting. Goddard is best known for her tulle party dresses, which closely resemble the triangular 'trapeze' shaped 'baby doll' dresses Balenciaga introduced in 1958. We use third-party platforms (including Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube) to share some content on this website. These set third-party cookies, for which we need your consent. If you are happy with this, please change your cookie consent for Targeting cookies. Gareth Pugh London-based Gareth Pugh is known for his experiments with shape and volume. He employs unusual materials that are difficult to work with, such as PVC and rubber, to make strong silhouettes. Like Balenciaga, he produces shapes that abstract the body. We use third-party platforms (including Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube) to share some content on this website. These set third-party cookies, for which we need your consent. If you are happy with this, please change your cookie consent for Targeting cookies. Josep Font, Creative Director for Delpozo The founder of Spanish label Delpozo, Jesus del Pozo, admired the work of Balenciaga above all others and received the Cristbal Balenciaga award for Best Spanish Designer in 1989. Delpozo's current Creative Director, Josep Font, has continued to design clothes in the same tradition, creating volumes that abstract the body, beautifully crafted in lightweight fabric and embellished by intricate sequin work. Font describes Balenciaga as a "maestro of structure and form". We use third-party platforms (including Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube) to share some content on this website. These set third-party cookies, for which we need your consent. If you are happy with this, please change your cookie consent for Targeting cookies. Share this article

TITLE: Shahar Livne turns recycled ocean plastic into Balenciaga jewelry
LINK: https://inhabitat.com/shahar-livne-turns-recycled-ocean-plastic-into-balenciaga-jewelry/
DESCRIPTION:View Slideshow Award-winning conceptual material designer Shahar Livne collaborated with fashion design company Balenciaga to create a new line of jewelry made from recycled ocean plastic. Inhabitat caught up with Livne to hear more about the process and inspiration behind the project. Continue reading below Our Featured Videos The collaboration took inspiration from my ongoing speculative research project Metamorphism, which investigates the future of plastics within the geological record of the Earth and the rebirth of it as a possible future semi-natural material I named Lithoplast,' Livne told Inhabitat. In the Metamorphism project, I use different plastics, ocean plastics, or landfill-designated plastics, in developing the new jewelry collection we worked with both, mainly PP and HDPE. The jewelry line will be available for purchase on the Balenciaga website in May 2021. Related: Nonprofit Washed Ashore crafts art and jewelry from ocean plastic The ocean plastic comes from Oceanworks, a worldwide marketplace for recycled plastic products and raw materials. The company sources plastic materials from all over the world, focusing mainly in Southeast Asia, where it says 60% of the worlds ocean plastic originates. The jewelry line, which consists of bracelets, earrings and rings, also uses marble waste material sourced from a marble processing company as well as landfill-derived plastic from recycling companies. Thank you! Keep an eye out for our weekly newsletter. Join Our Newsletter Receive the latest in global news and designs building a better future. I agree to receive emails from the site. I can withdraw my consent at anytime by unsubscribing. Check our Privacy Policy. It was interesting for us to work with OceanWorks-provided materials since we wanted to find the most sustainable and social option, Livne went on to say. OceanWorks is a global network that collected plastics from different areas, among them the oceans, with the help of fishermen and other beach cleaning operations, and the connection seemed perfect. The designer followed a similar process to her Metamorphism project, using heat and pressure to create a composite material. The material is then molded by hand into vintage-style shapes designed by Balenciaga, 3D-scanned to create a mold (in order to recreate a coherent style for the entire collection) and then finished by hand by Livne herself. + Shahar Livne

TITLE: How Balenciaga Became the Art World's Favorite Brand
LINK: https://www.gq.com/story/balenciaga-art-world
DESCRIPTION:But Balenciaga, artists and arbiters say, approaches fashion more like the art world approaches its own craft. Luxury is really embarrassing, Busta said. The idea of artistsmany of whom take as their subject the dislocating qualities of late capitalismwearing an earnestly luxurious brand seems ridiculous at a moment when no one trusts money or power. Balenciagas clothingwhich is often compared to (or derided as) memes onlinedemonstrates a knowledge of that tension, so you can LARP as part of the precariat by wearing Balenciaga, which makes it look like youre just a cool kid whos mixing the codes. The house systematically unpacks and recomodifies fashion itself: Balenciaga has reframed luxury as knowledge of the codes, as opposed to just these cheating, Trump-era ideas of what something luxurious looks like.At that point, Bustas boyfriend, Lil Internet, who owns an eponymous branding agency, jumped on the phone to chime in. The common trope of wealth is like, burning money, Lil Internet, who also goes by Julian, said. Throwing money away. And its like, youre spending thousands of dollars on an outfit that everyone knows is Balenciaga but codes as like a guy who sells like, bootleg sunglasses in a subway station.Fashion designers plunder archetypes that are somehow in everyones collective unconscious, he continued: the Spring 2020 show examine what global and corporatized power looks with suited-up bureaucrats in a United Nations setting that was, ironically, vague enough to be understood to a global audience. Balenciaga seems to see fashion as a system to engage with, explore, challenge, and subvert, rather than as a luxury niche of consumer culture that drives trends. The problematic realities that the typical fashion brand overlooks or excuses become influences and codes for Balenciaga. Think of the time they put the logo of their parent company, Kering, on a sweatshirt. Most luxury brands just translate wealth into beauty and power directly, he added. Balenciaga, instead, mines the way luxury has been conflated with power and moneythe undeniable seduction of the beauty of an object, of wealth, and of status that fashion can trick people into believing is accessible to everyone.The tension inherent to visual arts dual role as an object of critical or subversive meaning and a luxury good has been explored for centuries
; Balenciaga is just applying that to fashion. Part of why its production of fashion memes, like Ikea bags, platform Crocs, and bootcut jeans, continue to mesmerize people inside and outside of the fashion world is because by embracing the tension, they can offer these products without reducing the ideas behind them to an obvious statement or a moral judgment, both of which fashion encourages but the visual art world works against. A $2,145 Balenciaga take on the Ikea bag is not a celebration or condemnation of discount furniture, or fashion appropriation, but a reflection of the culture that encourages those kinds of interpretations.A common refrain on social media when a new meme drops is whether or not Balenciaga is trolling us. But in fact each new item, working as both a sendup and a savvy acknowledgment of fashion as a machine for appropriation, and an insatiable, eternal quest for novelty, is an embodiment of the very system of fashion. The result is that, for example, when one of the most famous models in the world, Bella Hadid, walked amid gallerists, collectors, and artists in the Spring 2020 power-themed show, it was one of the social media moments that fashion houses chaseand a knowing subversion of the stunt casting that has defined the past several seasons of shows (including Balenciagas!). As visual art often does, Balenciaga exagger

TITLE: V&A · Secrets of Balenciaga's construction
LINK: https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/secrets-of-balenciagas-construction
DESCRIPTION:Share Cristbal Balenciaga changed the shape of women's fashion, creating sculptural forms that stood away from the body, framing the figure rather than restricting it. Working with students from the London College of Fashion, we've created digital animations to show how three of his iconic designs were constructed, revealing his mastery of pattern cutting, draping and manipulation of fabrics. The 'Tulip' dress This dress was dubbed the 'tulip' by the press. A signature for Balenciaga  the plain front reserves interest for the back of the dress, with its large bow reminiscent of Japanese kimono. Model wearing Balenciaga evening dress, 1965.  Balenciaga House Archives, Paris The 'tulip' dress is made from stiff silk gazar fabric which stands away from the body and provides the strong architectural shape. The fabric is joined at the centre front and centre back with no side seams  a signature of Balenciaga's designs. A second panel of fabric hangs from the shoulders and is secured with bar tacks under the arms, creating the illusion of a loose, unstructured garment. We use third-party platforms (including Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube) to share some content on this website. These set third-party cookies, for which we need your consent. If you are happy with this, please change your cookie consent for Targeting cookies. The minimalist ensemble This woman's evening cape and dress ensemble typifies the increasing simplicity and abstraction of Balenciaga's later work. It relies on a deep knowledge of the fabric  which determines the sculptural shape. Although strikingly modern, the design echoes the mantles and cassocks worn by Catholic clergy in Balenciaga's Spanish homeland. Model wearing Balenciaga evening dress and cape, 1967.  Balenciaga House Archives, Paris A virtuoso example of pattern-cutting, the main body of the dress is cut from a single piece of fabric joined at the centre back. There are no side seams. The neck of the cape is painstakingly pieced to ensure a soft line which stands away from the body. We use third-party platforms (including Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube) to share some content on this website. These set third-party cookies, for which we need your consent. If you are happy with this, please change your cookie consent for Targeting cookies. The historically inspired evening dress Created through skil
ful draping of the finest silk taffeta, "Almost air-borne" was how Vogue described this historically inspired evening dress.

TITLE: Balenciaga's Ad Controversy: A Study in Crisis Communication
LINK: https://www.thefashionlaw.com/balenciaga-ad-controversy-a-case-study-in-communication-in-a-crisis/
DESCRIPTION:Ahead of the close of the year, Balenciaga has landed to the receiving end of a public relations crisis thanks to its release of two ad campaigns, one that depicted young children holding plush bear bags in S&M-style harnesses, and another  the Garde-Robe campaign  that included a page from the Supreme Courts decision in U.S. v. Williams, a case that focused on a child pornography statute. Faced with mounting controversy over the campaigns, Balenciaga pulled the ad campaigns from its website and issued two successive apologies last month. When those attempts only stoked further ire among consumers, the brand filed a lawsuit, naming production company North Six, Inc. and its agent, Nicholas Des Jardins, the latter of whom designed the set for the Garde-Robe campaign, as defendants. In a summons and notice lodged with a New York state court on November 25, Balenciaga alleged that the defendants engaged in inexplicable acts and omissions that were malevolent or, at the very least, extraordinarily reckless. Again, the move was met with consumer fury. The general consensus: Balenciaga was looking to shift the blame. The contract-centric case was short-lived. In a statement on December 2, Balenciaga CEO Cdric Charbit announced that the company would no longer pursue the litigation, and in a filing on the same day, the Kering-owned company alerted the court that it would voluntarily discontinue the action. A Crash Course The lawsuit was over before it even really started, but the entire matter is the latest example of how companies are handling  or should handle  high-profile crises. Reflecting on the controversy, public relations professionals and legal experts, alike, claim that Balenciaga would have fared more favorably had it taken more responsibility from the outset and not tried to blame others, including by way of a lawsuit that it was unlikely to win, especially in the court of public opinion. Companies responding to a crisis generally should not seek to blame others or try to avoid responsibility, DWF LLP attorney Mark Thompson stated in a note. While blame-shifting is not an untested response to consumer-facing crisis (in fact, the Institute for Public Relations lists the Scapegoat approach as one reputation repair strategy), as the Balenciaga situation demonstrates, this approach is not always appropriate, particularly as anything a brand puts out into the public domain is
 owned by that brand, according to Megan Matthews, a brand and PR strategist at Instinct Brand Equity. When a brand makes a mistake, ownership of the mistake with a clear outline for what is being done about it, or how to prevent it in the future is the next step, says Matthews. By blaming the parties responsible for creating the set, Balenciaga [was] shifting blame from the brand leaders to the teams involved, but at the end of the day, the brand (and ultimately, its leadership) signed off on the campaign. And consumers were quick to note that, as well, with many expressing skepticism that an established brand like Balenciaga was

TITLE: Balenciaga brings the rave cave back for their Pre-Fall '22 collection
LINK: https://harpersbazaar.com.au/balenciaga-pre-fall-2022/
DESCRIPTION:Y2K HAS BEEN A LA MODE for a while now  but Balenciaga has proven they do it best. The Italian Fashion House played with nostalgia and our perennial love of black for their 2022 Pre Fall Collection. Entitled The Lost Tape, Balenciagas creative director Demna, who like other cultural icons wishes to only be referred to by his first name now, has taken us back to a time of moody raves, nonchalance and monochromatic minimalism. Billed as anti-fashion, Demna described his latest body of work as being omnipresent  something which could be found anywhere from an industry spectacle to the active underground. While watching the December 8 show, guests were encouraged to cast their minds back to the uber cool 90s era and consider what could have been and never was. But before the fashion, Balenciaga kicked things off with a lo-fi film. The analog tape (remember those?) was directed by legendary 90s filmmaker Harmony Korine  famed for his work in the gritty coming-of-age film, Kids  and featured a number of fast-paced backstage scenes and interviews ranging from French actress Isabelle Huppert to American fashion critic Cathy Horyn. Meanwhile, a Pre-Fall lookbook was geniusly presented as a series of polaroids with names and look numbers scribbled on with thick black texters. Balenciagas promotional activity was daring without trying too hard  just like the grunge kids of the 90s. It recalls a TIME when CLOTHING that was ALIVE with RAW IDEAS. On The Lost Tape, a fashion show is characterized by the people and things that defined this late-90s era, directed by Harmony Korine. The collection itself symbolically filled a gap from Balenciagas forgotten years with sharp silhouettes, bell-shaped puffer coats, ultra-stretchy knits, slouchy pants and oversized T-shirt dresses. The majority of which were also presented in shades of black. Demna did say it was his favourite colour after all. But there was some light amongst the dark with a few obligatory double denim options thrown in (which were also double the standard size), stark and graphic florals, a few CHANEL-esque pastel tweed dresses and a few luxurious-looking bathrobes to round it out. Some Balenciaga signatures also made the cut including the
 Basque waist jacket and track suit with accessories such as waist bags (colloquially known as bum bags) and the return of the emo bag with grommetted fetish straps in stone-washed leather. Moody models also looked on brand, donning speed dealer shades, intense eye-liner and slicked back hair. Overall, the range was more Kate Moss suited than say Claudia Schiffer. But lets be honest, Moss was the 90s so who better to draw inspiration from? Balenciaga icons are reimagined for modern comfort: A bell-shaped parka is affixed with a detachable travel pillow at the neck. Conventional pieces are twisted to create a cross between a bathrobe and a trench coat. Vintage slip dresses are disassembled and pieced back together. Anti-FASHION, DECONSTRUCTION,

TITLE: Cristobal Balenciaga (1895–1972) | Essay | The Metropolitan Museum of Art | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
LINK: https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/bale/hd_bale.htm
DESCRIPTION:A true fashion innovator, Cristobal Balenciaga radically altered the fashionable silhouette of women in the mid-twentieth century. With the methodical skill of an expert tailor, he created garments of fluidity and grace. Unlike many couturiers, Balenciaga was able to drape, cut, and fit his own muslin patterns, known as toiles. He was respected throughout the fashion world for both his knowledge of technique and construction, and his unflinching perfectionism. Balenciaga was born in the small fishing village of Guetaria in the Basque region of Spain on January 21, 1895. From his early years, he spent many hours by his mothers side as she worked as a seamstress. In his teens, the most prominent woman of his town, the Marquesa de Casa Torres, became his patron and client, sending him to Madrid for formal training in tailoring and proudly wearing the results. Balenciaga found early success in his native country. He opened branches of his boutique Eisa in Madrid, Barcelona, and the fashionable seaside resort of San Sebastin. His designs were favored by the Spanish royal family and fashionable members of the aristocracy. When the Spanish Civil War forced the closure of his boutiques, Balenciaga moved his operation to Paris, the acknowledged fashion capital of the world. There the talented designer joined the ranks of Coco Chanel, Elsa Schiaparelli, and Mainbocher, among other established couturiers. In August 1937, Balenciaga staged his first runway show at his Avenue George V atelier, showing a collection that was heavily influenced by the Spanish Renaissance. Balenciaga interpreted numerous historical styles throughout his career. His Infanta gown was inspired by the costumes of the young Spanish princesses from portraits by Diego Velzquez, while the short, heavily ornamented jacket of light traditionally worn by toreadors in the bullfighting ring inspired much of his evening wear. By 1939, Balenciaga was being praised in the French press as a revolutionizing force in fashion, with buyers and customers fighting to gain access to his collection. During World War II, clients risked travel to Europe for Balenciagas designs, especially his celebrated square coatin which the sleeve was cut in one piece with the yokeand anything shown in his unique color combination of black and brown or black lace over bright pink. In the postwar years,
 Balenciagas designs became streamlined and linear. The clothing he created was different than the popular, curvy hourglass shape that Christian Dior promoted with his New Look. Balenciaga favored fluid lines that allowed him to alter the way clothing related to a womans body. Waistlines were dropped, then raised, independent of the wearers natural waistline. In 1953, he introduced the balloon jacket, an elegant sphere that encased the upper body and provided a pedestal for the wearers head. In 1957 came the creation of his high-waisted baby doll dress, the gracefully draped cocoon coat, and the balloon skirt, shown as a single pouf or doubled, one pouf on top of the other. Neither the sack dress, introduced in 1957, nor the chemise of 1958 had a discernible waist, but both were considered universally flattering and were copied by a large number of ready-to-wear manufacturers at every price range. With these design innovations, Balenciaga achieved what is considered to be his most important contribution to the world of fashion: a new silhouette for women. Throughout the 1960s, Balenciaga continued showing collections of unparalleled technique and beauty. His innovative use of fabriche liked bold materials, heavy cloths, and ornate embroideriesled him to work with the Swiss fabric house of Abraham. Together they developed silk g

TITLE: Why Balenciaga's Next Big Drop Is Haute Couture
LINK: https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/luxury/balenciaga-goes-back-to-haute-couture-demna-gvasalia/
DESCRIPTION:LONDON, United Kingdom  Balenciaga has become known for its high-end take on streetwear under Creative Director Demna Gvasalia. But with the trend for urban chic beginning to wane, it's returning to its roots.In July, the famed French fashion house will show its first couture collection since founder Cristbal Balenciaga closed the atelier in 1968.The move underscores Balenciagas ambitions after several years of meteoric growth, driven by Gvasalias genius for disruption and meme-able hits. The brand crossed the billion-dollar sales mark last year, more than doubling its size in the course of just three years."The idea was to welcome new customers," said Balenciaga Chief Executive Cdric Charbit, adding that since the announcement dropped Monday morning, the brand has already received a lot of requests. "We're looking at a new typology of customers who are interested in the work of Demna Gvasalia to explore couture and become couture customers."The company has become a star in parent company Kering's stable of luxury brands, which also include Gucci and Bottega Veneta. But as Balenciaga looks to the future, maintaining its growth is a challenge. Unlike Gucci, the brand doesn't have a stable of classics to fall back on and relying on churning out hit after hit every season can be risky.Relaunching couture has been years in the making. Gvasalia held it as an ambition from when he first joined the house, which has couture in its DNA. In 2017, he went back to the archives to close Balenciaga's 100th anniversary show with nine couture recreations.The bet on couture signals the brand's ambition to reclaim its heritage and join the suite of luxury brands that use their ultra-high-end collections to cast a powerful aspirational halo over more affordable products. Still, the move upmarket is a bold one. While couture is the dream-maker, it's a time-consuming and costly business with a very limited market. Fragrance and beauty, on the other hand, scale fast and have wide margins.Alongside the designers commitment to the brand, Balenciaga is betting on its existing momentum and "unlimited" support from parent company Kering to make its re-entry into couture a success.Its a lot of money, but its a wise decision
, Charbit said. "We have in mind [financial] balance. It's not a marketing plan. It was an idea that became an option."The company will establish a dedicated team and atelier replicating the original salons at the house's historic Avenue George V address. According to Charbit, "it's a move from street to salon" for Gvasalia and his team. And in a press release, the designer described the launch as a duty that takes Balenciaga back to its origins.For me, couture is an unexplored mode of creative freedom and

TITLE: V&A · Balenciaga's sequinned evening coat
LINK: https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/embroidering-balenciagas-sequin-coat
DESCRIPTION:Share Cristbal Balenciaga revelled in the variety and quality of fabrics available in Paris in the 1950s and 60s, and forged close working relationships with the craftsmen and women making luxury textiles, embellishments and accessories, such as the firm Lesage. Founded in the 1920s, Lesage was known for its virtuoso embroidery. Like Cristbal Balenciaga, Franois Lesage, who ran the house in the 1950s and 60s, was interested in introducing unusual materials into his couture. He found it an honour to be patronised by 'The Master', and produced designs exclusively for Balenciaga's use. This film shows embroiderers at the current Lesage workrooms recreating the beautiful hot-pink beading and sequin work of Balenciaga's 1967 evening coat. The design is first marked out on tracing paper and perforated. A mixture of charcoal and resin is applied to transfer the pattern onto the fabric. The embellishment is then added, layer by layer, to create a precisely gradated design of white pearls (in a seemingly haphazard 'vermicelli' design), teardrop and pink feather-shaped sequins, and Swarovski crystals. We use third-party platforms (including Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube) to share some content on this website. These set third-party cookies, for which we need your consent. If you are happy with this, please change your cookie consent for Targeting cookies. Share this article

TITLE: The mysterious Cristóbal Balenciaga
LINK: http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/news-features/TMG10275681/The-mysterious-Cristobal-Balenciaga.html
DESCRIPTION:Despite shunning publicity, choosing 'monsters' as his models and despising clients who bought too much, the enigmatic Cristbal Balenciaga continues to be revered as the supreme deity of the Paris salons more than 40 years after his death. BY Susan Irvine | 03 September 2013 The king is dead. When Women's Wear Daily ran this headline in March 1972 no one in the fashion world would have had any doubt as to whom it referred. There was only one king of couture, the one whom Christian Dior called 'the master of us all', while Coco Chanel said he alone was 'a couturier in the truest sense of the word The others are simply fashion designers.' Vogue summed it up in 1962: 'Almost since the first day he launched his salon in 1937 he has been acclaimed as the great leader in fashion; what Balenciaga does today, other designers will do tomorrow, or next year, by which time he will have moved on again.' Cristbal Balenciaga's impact on fashion has been profound. Yet to the world at large he remains an enigma. He is not associated with a signature outfit, like Coco Chanel, nor with a pivotal moment, like Christian Dior and the New Look of 1947, nor a cultural phenomenon like Vivienne Westwood and punk. From the moment he opened his Paris house, his clothes struck a note of simplicity that at times had a regal presence, at others a graphic grace. He reshaped women's silhouette in the 1950s, so that clothes we think of as typical of that decade are mostly dilutions of his work. In the 1960s his masterpieces of sculptural purity lifted his work into the arena of art. His cut was legendary. Nothing fitted the body with the supple ease of a Balenciaga suit, and once women had worn his clothes they were often unwilling to wear anything else. A sheath of cocoa-coloured organza 'feathers' from Balenciaga's autumn/winter 1950 collection. PHOTO: Irving Penn/Vogue  Conde Nast inc 1950. No one is to blame for the mystery that surrounds him more than Balenciaga himself. Unlike Dior, who was an early adopter of hype, or Chanel, who constantly made pithy pronouncements, he shunned publicity, and gave only one full interview in his life. He was rarely seen, prompting exasperated journalists
 to speculate as to whether he actually existed. A silence hangs over him as it hung over his couture establishment at 10 avenue Georges V, where a monastic atmosphere prevailed. Bettina Ballard, a young Vogue fashion editor, was one of the first to meet him, when he arrived in Paris in 1937. In a chapter of her autobiography entitled 'The Secret World of Cristbal Balenciaga' she describes him almost as if he were a swatch of textile: 'A gentle-voiced Spaniard with fine pale skin the texture and colour of eggshells and dark hair that lay thick and glistening in wavy layers on his well-shaped head. His voice was like feathers' Prudence Glyn of The Times, to whom he granted his only interview, in 1971, wrote, 'In post-war fashion, Dior became a household word through the influence of the New Look, but for the purists there was only one proper direction in which to bow, Cristbal Balenciaga.' Glyn reported that his dislike of publicity was in no way caused by the feeling that he was too grand to bother, saying, 'It is caused, he told me passionately, by the absolute impossibility he finds of explaining his metier to anyone.' Balenciaga photographed by Boris Lipnitzki in 1927 . PHOTO: Roger-Viollet/Topfoto For many, a Balenciaga show was the closest fashion gets to a religious experience. As the Vogue

TITLE: Brand Profile: Balenciaga (Best Men's Balenciaga Clothing)
LINK: https://vitruvianmagazine.com/best-mens-balenciaga-clothing/
DESCRIPTION:The house of Balenciaga was founded in 1917 and is known as both one of the longest running fashion companies in the world and for reinventing the concept of clothing and design. Originally started in Spain, Cristobal Balenciaga established his work in the French capital, adding an essence of sophistication to the Parisian scene, way ahead of his time. The exquisite innovations from the early work of Balenciaga defined a new form of fashion, modernising traditional clothing to create a new silhouette of style. The modern concept that defines Balenciaga is still prevalent in contemporary collections, with some of the best mens Balenciaga clothing showcasing the unique ideas of such a prestigious designer. Balenciagas influence on the fashion industry is irrefutable. Christian Dior once described the impact of the Spanish designer by stating that, haute couture is like an orchestra, for which only Balenciaga is the conductor. The rest of us are musicians, following the directions that he gives us. Balenciagas iconic way of refracting conventional seamstress methods, has created new directions for design ideas, allowing artistic flair to be embedded in fashion. The best mens Balenciaga clothing are a combination of structured silhouettes, with strong palettes to establish a modern expression of haute couture luxury. The fashion house has seen an array of creative directors take the place of Balenciaga, each resonating the legacy of Balenciagas work. Since 2015, the brand has been helmed by Demna Gvasalia who has incorporated ingenious designs into the thriving brand. The autumn/winter 2018 collections are remarkable, with some of the best mens Balenciaga clothing envisioning technical fabric and high neck collaring. Balenciaga achieved minimalism style before the term was even invented, and in the modern collections, overseen by Gvasalia, the essence of minimalism has transcended through time, with the summer/spring best mens Balenciaga clothing collaborating minimalist shades with rendered embellishments for a sleek finish. The innovations of the best mens Balenciaga clothing have an eye for perfect proportions, elongating the figure. The oversized element of outerwear and t shirts embraces flexibility and style to mens clothing. The structured shaping of fabrics allows for adaptability, enhancing a geometric fitting. The classic crew neck is a prominent feature within the collaring and when combined with a oversized
 fit, it is an essential feature for inclusion of a street vibe within a outfit. The 2018 collections of the best mens Balenciaga clothing remain fabricated with quality material and stitching. The striped down jackets of the Autumn/Winter 18 range, comprise technical canvasing to ensure durability when exposed to the elements. From breathable lining, to winderstopper cuffs, Balenciaga outerwear is not only a practicality but adds statement luxury to mens clothing. The oversized silhouette compresses an urbane feel, and the attention to detail captured with the iconic embroidery of the Balenciaga emblem subtly incorporates high class luxury into mens fashion. Recent collections of the best mens Balenciaga clothing have also seen elements of 80s inspiration being collaborated into the designs. The poplin sweaters embrace geometric outlining on a backdrop of vibrant colours, creating a couture version of edginess. Retro prints and delicate, lightweight fabric assemblages a vintage trend, and partnered with skinny jeans and high-top air forces, the best mens Balenciaga clothing enables the modernisation of 80s retro fashion. For subtle additions of luxury into mens styling, the best mens Balenciaga clothing creates the perfect accessories. The monochromic socks, with a simplistic brand logo stitched along the rim is a rendered piece, worn visible with ankle length chinos and low rise sneakers for a subtle essence of high luxury to mens apparel. Athleisure accessories are also key features within the Balenciaga collection. The traditional baseball cap design is converted into a luxury piece, with the embroidered logo of Balenciaga positioned central, making the collections of the best mens Bal

TITLE: How Much Does Brand DNA Matter?
LINK: https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/news-analysis/how-much-does-brand-dna-matter-burberry-gucci-ralph-lauren-saint-laurent/
DESCRIPTION:NEW YORK, United States  What would Burberry be without the trench coat? Gucci without the horse bit? Chanel without tweed? These are the signifiers on which multi-billion-dollar luxury fashion businesses were built in the 1990s, when independent houses were re-engineered to serve an increasingly global pool of consumers, many of whom knew very little about what gave these brands their value. So companies told them stories of Coco Chanel and Christian Dior, or how the Birkin got its name.But if the past few years have proven anything, it's that newness and cultural relevance are as important as heritage for hooking today's consumers, who know very well what they're buying. "Just a few years ago, the race to win 'virgin' luxury consumers was in full swing, especially in China," Luca Solca, head of luxury goods at BNP Exane Paribas, wrote in 2017. "But the wave has broken. Today, it is established consumers who are driving demand."Even new entrants to the luxury market care less about history than their predecessors. A 2017 Deloitte study of over 1,000 millennial consumers aged 20-30 across the US, UK, Italy and China found that quality and uniqueness are the most important factors that attract them to a luxury brand. Although high luxury brands like to stress their heritage and premium brands like to stress inspirational qualities in their marketing messages, these are not for the most part what draw millennial consumers, the report said.Some luxury players have caught on. "The formula that is overrated is the 'DNA' of the brand," Kering chief executive Franois-Henri Pinault told BoF in a recent interview. "Through that term, people imprison themselves."Pinault was speaking to the blockbuster success of Gucci creative director Alessandro Michele, whose fancy dress-drawer dreamland has catapulted the business to 6.2 billion in sales in 2017, up from 3.5 billion in 2014, the year before he was installed.The DNA gives you the ingredients to fill the story, but at the same time you need exceptional innovation.Michele uprooted the Italian house's sexy-and-slick styles, established by former creative director Tom Ford in the 1990s and adopted by Frida Giannini in the aughts, planting psychedelic poppies in its place. In this case, letting go of the past was the
 only way to keep people interested going forward. "The brand is symbols, icons  it's never a style," Pinault added. "The style is the interpretation of something and if you think that the style of the brand has to be respected,

TITLE: What to Know About the Balenciaga Ad Scandal
LINK: https://www.thecut.com/article/what-to-know-about-the-balenciaga-ad-scandal.html
DESCRIPTION:Photo-Illustration: by The Cut; Photos: Balenciaga Last November, an ad campaign featuring children holding teddy bears in bondage harnesses and costumes embroiled both Balenciaga and its designer, Demna, in controversy. Since then, the company has been on an arduous journey toward rehabilitation and is now quietly reemerging into the public sphere. In May, with little fanfare, Demna both attended the Met Gala and released a line of resortwear. And most recently, Balenciaga dressed several celebrities, including Michelle Yeoh, Alton Mason, and Salma Hayek (who happens to be married to the chief executive of the houses parent company, Kering), for the Cannes Film Festival to the sound of little, if any, public pushback. Back in March, Demna tepidly showed his first collection since the debacle, marking a significant departure from his former signature approach. Unlike other shows he had done, which have included elaborate sets covered in mud (the work of Spanish artist Santiago Sierra) as well as wind and snow, it was held in a cavernous white room with no embellishments. On every chair was a note from Demna. Fashion has become a kind of entertainment, he wrote. And continued, In the last couple of months I needed to seek shelter with my love affair with fashion and I instinctively found it in the process of making clothes. Adding: This is why fashion, to me, can no longer be seen as entertainment, but rather as the art of making clothes. The label showed 54 looks, mostly in black and gray. The show notes from Balenciagas first show since the kids campaign, which embroiled the house in controversy. Last November, Balenciaga released its holiday ad campaign featuring children holding teddy bears in bondage harnesses and costumes. (The BDSM accessories were also on the runway at Balenciagas show at Paris Fashion Week.) The backlash against the images was swift, with the hashtag #cancelBalenciaga trending across Twitter and TikTok and many accusing the brand and its creative director, Demna, of condoning pedophilia and child exploitation. In a separate ad that dropped later that month, a bag from the fashion houses collaboration with Adidas was photographed atop copies of what appear to be documents from the Supreme Court case United States v. Williams, a ruling that upheld the PROTECT Act, which increased federal protections against child pornography
. Both campaigns quickly became a conservative talking point and sparked conspiracy theories. Since then,

TITLE: Earth Day
LINK: https://www.balenciaga.com/en-us/earth-day
DESCRIPTION:Skip to main content National Children's Alliance World Food Programme Sustainability Re-sell program Pride Earth Day BALENCIAGA SUPPORTS REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE WITH AR EXPERIENCE AND eDNA TECHNOLOGY In celebration of Earth Day April 22nd, 2023, Balenciaga continues its commitment to raising awareness about regenerative agriculture with the launch of Balenciaga Regenerative Agriculture Experience. Accessible via any smart device, users can farm crops in augmented reality (AR) using techniques that, when implemented in reality, improve soil health. Users choose a farmer to lead it around virtual landmarks, tasked with growing successful harvests. They learn about intercropping, crop rotation, agricultural waste, and composting along the way. In addition, Balenciaga will invest in eDNA, an innovative technology developed to measure and monitor biodiversity by detecting traces of DNA in the environment. The data that eDNA provides helps corporations, landowners, and farmers to get a more accurate picture of an ecosystems health. eDNA is used on a project led by Epiterre, part of the Regenerative Fund for Nature. This project seeks to restore ecological balance and to safeguard livelihoods in the Occitanie region of Southwestern France. Certain agricultural strategies can be used to sustain or improve a habitats health, but without accurate data and metrics, it is difficult to know if these strategies are in fact working. This is why eDNA technology plays an important role in restoring ecosystems.

TITLE: Balenciaga's Make-or-Break Show, Explained
LINK: https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/luxury/balenciagas-make-or-break-show-explained/
DESCRIPTION:PARIS  A few weeks ago, some fashion editors were still unsure about covering Balenciagas March show: some US and UK outlets in particular were nervous about the risks of associating themselves with the scandal-tainted fashion house.But since Balenciaga teased plans for a major reset last month, at both owner Kerings annual results and in an interview that designer Demna gave to US Vogue, the brand at the centre of fashions highest-profile scandal since Dolce & Gabbana was frozen out of China in 2018 has reasserted its status as a hot ticket at Paris Fashion Week.Balenciagas Sunday show  which is expected to be a radically pared-back affair, leaning on its archive  will be a key test for whether the brand can bounce back from the crisis that engulfed it in late November after backlash to an ad campaign featuring S&M-inspired products alongside children boiled over, resulting in social media outrage, cable news takedowns, and vandalism and protests at stores.Ahead of the high-stakes outing, BoF breaks down what happened, what to expect from the show and where one of fashions most hotly-watched companies might go from here.Balenciaga Haute Couture Autumn/Winter 2022 look 40. (Balenciaga)How did Balenciaga get here?Since Vetements-founder Demna Gvasalia took the creative helm at Balenciaga in 2015, the brand has grown spectacularly, pushing past $2 billion in estimated annual sales on the back of extreme silhouettes, hit streetwear and sneakers, internet savvy-marketing and blockbuster shows laced with socio-political critique. Balenciaga started to rebalance its image, reasserting its luxury credentials with an haute couture revival and red-carpet push. But during ready-to-wear shows the brand continued to issue stunty products like trompe-lil leather potato chip bags and, last season, tapped controversial rapper Ye to open its show.Social media outrage boiled over after a holiday gifting campaign that posed children in intimate settings with adult products including teddy bear bags accessories with S&M-inspired details, like harnesses and padlock necklaces. The brand recalled the campaign, which Demna has called a big mistake and a wrong artistic choice. But the backlash continued to grow as some claimed
 to spot pedophilic messages embedded in legal documents in the background of the campaign photos. In another image starring Isabelle Huppert, sleuthers zoomed in on legal briefs from a Supreme Court decision related to child pornography and a book by an artist whose subjects have included disfigured children that were contained in the images. Balenciaga said the content of the briefs was accidental  initially threatening legal action against a production company that provided the props before apologising for this misstep, too.Balenciaga's $1,790 calfskin leather trash bag caused controversy online. (Balenciaga)As the controversy spread, particularly in English-speaking countries, key markets like the US, the UK and the Middle East were the most heavily impacted. (The fallout has been more muted in Europe and hardly noticeable in Asia, where the brand continues to grow swiftly).Fourth-quarter sales at Kerings Other Luxury division, which includes Balenciaga, fell 4 percent year-on-year, compared to 13 percent growth in Q3. That impact could be more extreme for Q1 this year, as the prior quarter included 2 months of normal trading before the scandal erupted. Kering says it hopes things will start to improve for Balenciaga from the second quarter of this year.How has Balenciaga responded to the crisis?Apart from its repeated apologies, Balenciaga has pulled the plug on nearly all communications since the scandal hit. Throughout the pivotal year-end holidays and Lunar New Year, the brands social channels posted only archival videos from the time of founder Cristobl, as well as a few looks

TITLE: A Timeline of Balenciaga's Ad Campaign Scandal
LINK: https://people.com/style/balenciaga-campaign-controversy-timeline/
DESCRIPTION:Balenciaga's holiday campaign has resulted in the opposite of holiday cheer. The luxury fashion brand has been receiving backlash since the launch of its recent 2022 "Gift Collection" campaign in support of the Balenciaga Spring/Summer 2023 collection that debuted this fall at Paris Fashion Week. Controversy surrounded two separate campaigns with different images. One of the ads featured kids holding teddy bears in leather bondage gear and the other "office" themed ad involved a reference to a Supreme Court case on child porn. While eagle-eyed social media users immediately attacked the brand, accusing it of sexualizing children in the holiday ad, Balenciaga is now suing the production company and set designer involved with the Garde-Robe "office" campaign. courtesy balenciaga; getty This isn't the first time the luxury brand has found itself at the center of controversy, particularly since Demna Gvasalia was named Balenciaga's artistic director in 2015. Some of the brand's infamous past decisions have included putting heels on Crocs, selling destroyed sneakers for $1,850 and styling Kim Kardashian in a head-to-toe black bodysuit at the 2021 Met Gala. Recently, the brand turned heads after cutting ties with longtime collaborator and supporter Kanye West after he wore a "White Lives Matter" shirt and publicly partook in harmful antisemitic rhetoric. But now, celebrities  like Bella Hadid, who modeled in the Garde-Robe campaign  are being called out to cut ties with the brand. Here's everything to know about the Balenciaga scandal amid the $25 million lawsuit initiation. Nov. 16, 2022: Balenciaga launches its 2022 'Gift Collection' holiday campaign courtesy balenciaga The luxury fashion house published a campaign titled "Balenciaga Gift Shop" on Nov. 16 in support of its Spring/Summer 2023 collection. The launch featured two campaigns, both of which received backlash due to their controversial images. The first "gift collection" campaign, shot by award-winning National Geographic photographer Gabriele Galimberti, featured photos of children holding handbags that looked like teddy bears wearing leather harnesses and spiked collars with wine glasses near in some of the shots. The second was a Garde-Robe campaign, featuring an "office" theme (not shot by Galimberti), which included a photo with a page from a Supreme Court
 ruling of United States v. Williams in the background. That ruling deemed the promotion of child pornography illegal and not protected under freedom of speech. One of Galimberti's most notable collections is called "

TITLE: Balenciaga Releases The Most Expensive Garbage Bag In the World
LINK: https://dsfantiquejewelry.com/blogs/news/balenciaga-releases-the-most-expensive-garbage-bag-in-the-world
DESCRIPTION:Balenciaga has unveiled a brand new bag for Autumn/Winter 2022. It costs almost 2000 USD and it looks really bizarre: it resembles plastic bin bags.Specifically, the new Balenciaga bag looks like a trash bag, only made of calf leather and decorated with a subtle logo. Crafted from glossy leather insted of the usual plastic it is available in black, white, yellow, and blue.On the Balenciaga website, the label reveals: "The Trash Pouch is inspired by a garbage bag."When asked about it, Demna (designer) said, "I couldnt miss an opportunity to make the most expensive trash bag in the world, because who doesnt love a fashion scandal".Balenciagas Trash Bag Stirred Upsstrong Reactions On Social Media"They really trying to make a joke out of the consumers at this point," one person commented on Highsnobietys Instagram post about the style hitting stores, while another quipped, "I got 40 of those under my sink," according to Page Six."Whoever buys this needs to be thrown out in it," a third person added.The "Origins" Of The Luxury Trash BagBack in March, after sitting front row at Balenciagas Paris Fashion Week show in a catsuit made out of caution tape, Kim Kardashian posted on her Instagram a picture of a gift from designer Demna: a ripped-from-the-runway black sack from the brand-new collection."Look what I got. I got the trash bag bag from the show. I am so excited," she gushed at the time, adding, "How cool is this?"Now, the bag  dubbed the Trash Pouch  has finally hit stores, priced at a cool $1,790, being the last "must have" for trash-looking items lovers.This is not the first time that the luxury fashion brand raises eyebrows with its products. In May, Balenciaga unveiled its new line of "full destroyed" footwear sold for $1,850 (1,500). It was more than twice the price of the standard Paris High Top Sneaker, which costs $625 for a non-distressed look.

TITLE: Alexander Wang News, Collections, Fashion Shows, Fashion Week Reviews, and More
LINK: https://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/designer/alexander-wang
DESCRIPTION:In the years following his namesake labels creation in 2005, Alexander Wang became the de facto uniform-maker for a downtown New York City crowd affecting the M.O.D., or model-off-duty, lookbut the ease of that quintessential Wang look came straight from the West Coast. A California transplant, Wang grew up steeped in genuine beach culture; he has never been a purveyor of fantasy. Instead, as he told i-D in 2009, he aims for something thats even harder to deliver: Clothes that girls want to wear. This is the youthful mission that, no doubt, attracted the house of Balenciaga when he was creative director from 2012 to 2015.Born in 1983 to Taiwanese-American parents in San Francisco, Wang grew up in the Bay Area and at the age of 18 moved to New York to study at the Parsons School of Design. He interned for Marc Jacobs, Teen Vogue, Vogue, and Derek Lam, then dropped out of Parsons to launch a line of unisex sweaters. When Wang was photographed by The New York Times at a party wearing a sweater with an intarsia image of a girl smoking on the back, Vogues Sarah Mower would write in 2010, buyers came clamoring for the casual, downbeat clothes at newly accessible prices by the cool kid with the model friends.In 2007, Wang introduced his first full womens collection. By 2008 an accessories line was addedand he was declared the winner of the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, with Diane von Furstenberg becoming his mentor. His tenure at Balenciaga was short, but it did nothing but elevate his global profile. Now hes back in New York full time, eager to take his eponymous label to the next level.All Alexander Wang CollectionsLatest from Alexander Wang

TITLE: Cropped Tops & Cheeky Midriffs Is the New Balenciaga Uniform
LINK: https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/balenciaga-fall-winter-2022-collection/
DESCRIPTION:Following Balenciaga's cryptic show invitations that came as VHS tapes with "The Lost Tapes" handwritten on top, the label has now revealed the anticipated collection.Looking at "what could have been and never was," the presentation takes inspiration from the '90s, and taps both trends as well as iconic people that defined the era; Naomi Campbell, Isabelle Huppert, Diane Pernet, and Cathy Horyn are only some of the names tapped by Balenciaga for a quick post-show cameo.The collection itself is predominantly black, playing with some of Balenciaga's signature silhouettes. Tracksuits are contrasted by slip dresses, floor-length robes are paired with tank tops, and the Hourglass jacket has somehow become even more structured. The key takeaway is that crop-tops are in, and they're unisex.If you're not showing your midriff, then what are you doing? Ideally, your Balenciaga-branded underwear is showing, too.To view this external content, please click here.Plenty of new shoes also appear in the rave-inspired collection, including a square-toed ballerina flat worn as a slipper, and a thigh-high "Excavator" boot that Kanye West will be wearing in no time. This is basically the evolution of the Croc boot that Yeezy is quite fond of.Of course, futuristic sunglasses can be spotted throughout, as well as new bags such as the Lindsay bag, and the washed-leather Emo bag, which sports fetish straps, plenty of hardware. It is a combination of youthful grunge and timeless tailoring, and feels just right.To view this external content, please click here."It recalls a time when clothing that was alive with raw ideasanti-fashion, deconstruction, and monochromatic minimalismcould be found anywhere from an industry spectacle to the active underground," Balenciaga explains.For those unfamiliar, "The Lost Tapes" is a collection symbolic of Balenciaga's forgotten years. It looks to the past, but also hints to our future.This year, the label has been entering the digital world through Fortnite, collaborated (or "hacked") with Gucci, and hinted at plans to join the Metaverse, creating an ever-growing Balenciaga universe that shows no signs of slowing down. This also means taking responsibility when it comes
 to production, which is why the Fall/Winter 2022 season has been crafted with 89.6% certified sustainable ready-to-wear fabrics, in addition to upcycled leather in both accessories as well as in the garments.To view this external content, please click here.

TITLE: From Nike to Balenciaga, the Seven Strangest Sneakers of 2020
LINK: https://www.wsj.com/articles/from-nike-to-balenciaga-the-seven-strangest-sneakers-of-2020-11608815787
DESCRIPTION:Balenciagas amphibian-like toe shoes were just on the scores of odd sneakers released this year.By Jacob GallagherDec. 24, 2020 8:16 am ETYour browser does not support the audio tag.ADLoading advertisement...This article is in your queue.AROUND THIS TIME last year, I cataloged the strangest clothing items Id come across in 2019: seven superlatively odd garments that stood out from the many, many pieces of fashion Id encountered over the previous 365 days. (Im still wondering who would buy Moschinos bobble-head baseball caps.) 2020 has been another beast altogether. For the past nine months or so, Ive been working from my kitchen table. Meanwhile, many of the trappings of the fashion industry are gone. Runway shows are rare now; on hold are the sort of in-person meetings Id previously attended to review new collections; and red-carpet eventswith their outlandish celebrity outfitshave largely disappeared. In short, Ive had far fewer opportunities to inspect new clothes, bizarre or otherwise.What's NewsU.S. Eyes Detailing Beijings Potential Arms Aid to Russia10 hours agoUkraines Zelensky Is Challenged by Return of Domestic Political Troubles 19 hours agoContinue reading your article witha WSJ membership Special Offer $2 per week Subscribe NowAlready a member? Sign InSponsored OffersTurboTax: TurboTax service code 2023 - $20 offAmerican Eagle Outfitters:

TITLE: In the Rush Back to the Runways, Sustainability Slipped Out of the Headlines—Here's Who's Still Innovating
LINK: https://www.vogue.com/article/sustainability-spring-2022-shows
DESCRIPTION:This time last year, we were calling the spring 2021 season a turning point in fashions sustainability movement. Everyone had big ambitions about producing less, using what exists, and designing clothes to last: Francesco Risso was upcycling old pieces into new ones; Gabriela Hearst and Stella McCartney used up their leftover fabrics; Balenciagas Demna Gvasalia sharply increased his use of organic cotton and recycled synthetics; Kenneth Ize and Colville partnered with artisan weavers in Nigeria and Mexico; and Collina Strada launched a silk made from rose petals. On our mid-pandemic Zooms, these were often the details designers got most excited about: Gvasalia recalled deconstructing and upcycling his own clothes during lockdown, telling Vogues Sarah Mower it helped him fall in love with fashion again. Theres a need to revise things, he said. To start a new chapter.We expected spring 2022 to be another step forward, a glimpse of fashions earth-friendly future after 18 months of lockdowns and climate disasters. Often, though, the general feeling was that brands were more focused on the media impact of their shows than the environmental impact of their collections. Remember sustainability? a colleague laughed at New York Fashion Week. After a year-and-a-half of lofty conversations around the subject, its absence felt abrupt, if not troubling.In truth, there was a lot vying for our attention this month. The sheer excitement of getting back to live shows was powerful, even if many of us experienced them virtually. These werent just regular shows, either: They were music festivals, TV premieres, and community gatherings, each transmitting good vibes IRL and on Instagram. Fashions big comeback seemed to demand a show that made an immediate, emotional impact, sometimes to the point where the clothes became secondary to the plot. When a show is no longer about the clothes, there isnt much space to dive into the nitty-gritty of organic yarns and local manufacturing.The opening gown in Balenciaga's spring 2022 collection, which featured a blend of 63% recycled nylon and 37% responsibly-sourced viscose. The cactus leather bomber jacket in Balenciagas spring 2022 collection. It might lead you to believe there wasnt much sustainable progress at all this season, but that wasnt the case. We found it in the studios and showrooms of
 designers like Maria Cornejo, who is investing in vertical production in Japan and Turkey to reduce her transportation footprint; Ashlynn Park, who employs zero-waste cutting techniques and works on a made-to-order model; and

TITLE: What Digital Clothes Could Mean For The Environment
LINK: https://www.refinery29.com/en-au/2021/07/10596666/digital-fashion-environment-meaning
DESCRIPTION:Photo: courtesy of Balenciaga.A look from Balenciaga's fall 2021 runway presented in the form of a video game.Over the past year, our lives have become increasingly digitalized in ways that were once hard to imagine. In-person meetings have been replaced by Zoom calls, we shop nearly exclusively online, and even learning has become virtual. It comes as little surprise then that digital fashion  which includes everything from live stream runway shows and 3-D collections to fashion you can buy in digital formats (in video games and crypto art)  has also accelerated. While years ago, all these would have seemed like nonsensical concepts, these digital expressions of fashion have widespread appeal these days. Were now accustomed to virtual fashion influencers like Lil Miquela, who has over three million followers on Instagram, digital Fashion Month shows, and new collections that debut within video games (see: Balenciaga's Afterworld: The Age of Tomorrow). If this trend continues, could parts of the fashion consumption process, from production to wear, become entirely digital, too?Photo: courtesy of Balenciaga.Looks from Balenciaga's u0022Afterworld: The Age of Tomorrow.u0022Given fashions role in the environmental crisis  projections show that the industry could be responsible for a quarter of the earths carbon budget by 2050 if nothing changes  the digital-first method of production and consumption presents an interesting opportunity. With this in mind, the University for the Creative Arts announced the launch of its first digital-only fashion course earlier this year. Digital fashion has three applications: virtual fashion, e-commerce, and the digitalization of production, Jules Dagonet, the head of its school of fashion, tells Refinery29 US. [When] sustainability and digital fashion go hand-in-hand, and everyone wins. For the brands, its faster to produce and youre producing garments only when a customer needs it. It's also better for the environment. We produce almost twice the amount of clothing today compared to over 20 years ago. Dagonet believes that digitising fashion production has a unique potential in addressing issues like overproduction. But, first, young designers need to be educated in these fields. Whats keeping [companies] from embracing digital fashion technologies is the talent gap, she explains. Thats where she says programs like UCAs will have an important role to play.

TITLE: Inside This 23-Year-Old's Extensive Balenciaga Collection
LINK: https://www.vogue.com/article/eden-pritikin-balenciaga-archival-collector-nicolas-ghesquiere
DESCRIPTION:Eden Pritikin can remember the exact piece of clothing that threw her world off its axis: a jungle-print scuba top from Balenciagas spring 2003 collection, designed by Nicolas Ghesquire. I remember seeing a runway picture of it for the first time and after that, everything I saw was measured up to the emotional reaction that the scuba top sparked for me, she says. That top started Pritikins love of early-2000s Balenciaga, which has since culminated in her archival collection that hovers around 115 pieces of the best of the best. Only runway. 23-year-old Pritikin is specific with her accumulation of Balenciaga pieces, and mainly collects looks from 2000 to 2004, though she wasnt even 10 years old when they originally walked the runway. They were the golden years before things started to get commercialized, she notes. Currently, Pritikin is obsessed with cargo pieces from spring 2002, and scoring the heavy-shoulder finale looks from fall 2000. The jumbled mess of those finale tops are so beautiful, she says. I would die to have one. Pritikin, because of the scale and specificity of her collection, is a bit of a micro-celebrity in the world of Instagram archival collectors. Her account, @e.archive, is modest at less than 450 followers, which includes friends and fellow collectors. According to Pritikin, the majority of her followers are people who I assume love Balenciaga. She began her collection years after her teenage discovery of the scuba top, when she was at London College of Fashion and visiting New York on a spontaneous work trip. It is the scuba top from look one of spring 2003, worn by Erin Wasson, and is new minus the tags, she says. I remember finding it, and it was my first time seeing a piece of this caliber in person. And I got so emotional when I found it that I was almost in tears. In college, Pritikin began to work at a fashion casting company during fashion month. There she began to save up money to buy more Balenciaga. At first she began to collect non-runway, more commercial pieces. Pritikins attitude changed, and she started to curate her collection more and sought out more collectible pieces. I have to think about the future of my collection and what
 is going to happen with it. Im not going to hold on to it forever, so in my head, I am thinking about what is most attractive to a museum or an archive. To scout for pieces, Pritikin estimates that she spends two to three hours a day trawling resale websites for items to purchase. For items she doesnt wear, she resells them. These pieces dont hold any value sitting in my closet. So it makes sense for me to sell them, says Pritikin. Over the years, Pritikin has found a trove of ber-rare items. Most recently, she was with a friend at lunch in New York and had shown them a listing for a spring 2003 scuba dress that was priced at a ton of money. After, they had planned to go uptown, and while en route, she stopped by a local consignment store in Nolita and saw the dress hanging. I really think it was some sign from the universe that I was meant to own that dress. It was just sitting on the rack, she says. Her Balenciaga-loving followers have had a hand in her finding some of her favorite pieces, including a chunky knit, cream scarf from fall 2002. A few years ago, a follower on Instagram sent Pritikin a link to a consignment

TITLE: Inside This 23-Year-Old's Extensive Balenciaga Collection
LINK: https://www.vogue.com/article/eden-pritikin-balenciaga-archival-collector-nicolas-ghesquiere
DESCRIPTION:Eden Pritikin can remember the exact piece of clothing that threw her world off its axis: a jungle-print scuba top from Balenciagas spring 2003 collection, designed by Nicolas Ghesquire. I remember seeing a runway picture of it for the first time and after that, everything I saw was measured up to the emotional reaction that the scuba top sparked for me, she says. That top started Pritikins love of early-2000s Balenciaga, which has since culminated in her archival collection that hovers around 115 pieces of the best of the best. Only runway. 23-year-old Pritikin is specific with her accumulation of Balenciaga pieces, and mainly collects looks from 2000 to 2004, though she wasnt even 10 years old when they originally walked the runway. They were the golden years before things started to get commercialized, she notes. Currently, Pritikin is obsessed with cargo pieces from spring 2002, and scoring the heavy-shoulder finale looks from fall 2000. The jumbled mess of those finale tops are so beautiful, she says. I would die to have one. Pritikin, because of the scale and specificity of her collection, is a bit of a micro-celebrity in the world of Instagram archival collectors. Her account, @e.archive, is modest at less than 450 followers, which includes friends and fellow collectors. According to Pritikin, the majority of her followers are people who I assume love Balenciaga. She began her collection years after her teenage discovery of the scuba top, when she was at London College of Fashion and visiting New York on a spontaneous work trip. It is the scuba top from look one of spring 2003, worn by Erin Wasson, and is new minus the tags, she says. I remember finding it, and it was my first time seeing a piece of this caliber in person. And I got so emotional when I found it that I was almost in tears. In college, Pritikin began to work at a fashion casting company during fashion month. There she began to save up money to buy more Balenciaga. At first she began to collect non-runway, more commercial pieces. Pritikins attitude changed, and she started to curate her collection more and sought out more collectible pieces. I have to think about the future of my collection and what
 is going to happen with it. Im not going to hold on to it forever, so in my head, I am thinking about what is most attractive to a museum or an archive. To scout for pieces, Pritikin estimates that she spends two to three hours a day trawling resale websites for items to purchase. For items she doesnt wear, she resells them. These pieces dont hold any value sitting in my closet. So it makes sense for me to sell them, says Pritikin. Over the years, Pritikin has found a trove of ber-rare items. Most recently, she was with a friend at lunch in New York and had shown them a listing for a spring 2003 scuba dress that was priced at a ton of money. After, they had planned to go uptown, and while en route, she stopped by a local consignment store in Nolita and saw the dress hanging. I really think it was some sign from the universe that I was meant to own that dress. It was just sitting on the rack, she says. Her Balenciaga-loving followers have had a hand in her finding some of her favorite pieces, including a chunky knit, cream scarf from fall 2002. A few years ago, a follower on Instagram sent Pritikin a link to a consignment

TITLE: The Business of Fashion
LINK: https://www.businessoffashion.com/news/
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TITLE: Op-Ed | How Luxury Became Fast Fashion
LINK: https://www.businessoffashion.com/opinions/luxury/op-ed-luxury-fast-fashion-collaboration-karl-lagerfeld-hm/
DESCRIPTION:Covid-19 has hit fashion sales hard. It is also driving the completion of a long but radical reboot that started 20 years ago, shifting high-end fashion away from its elitist, luxury traditions towards the logic of fast fashion targeting the masses by the millions.Phase 1: Targeting the MassesThe first phase of this evolution began around two decades ago, when it started to become clear that style leadership was shifting. If designer brands had been the focal point of the industry during the 20th century, credited with dictating taste and innovation, mass fashion was considered  much like the famous "cerulean" scene in The Devil Wears Prada  to be a lame version of the real thing. Fast fashion labels, from H&M to Zara, were seen as cheap copycats of designs that had originated on fashion week catwalks and were often accused of outright plagiarism.Until the beginning of the 21st century, the market's designer and fast fashion segments did not really mix. Just as it had been hard for couturiers to move from haute couture to ready-to-wear in the 1950s, most high-end designers stayed away from mass fashion, which offered look-a-likes of their own products at much lower prices. In part, it was a matter of elitism and pride. And attempts at mass appeal, like Halston's 1983 line for J.C. Penny, typically ended poorly.But at the turn of the millennium, it became clearer that fast fashion had become a massive force in the market that could no longer be ignored. With 'cheap and chic' products, backed by a direct-to-consumer sales strategy, thousands of stores and a speedy and flexible supply chain, fast fashion took a share of the market that traditional ready-to-wear labels could only dream about. It was only a matter of time before high-end designers would cross over. And they did. With Karl Lagerfeld's H&M collaboration in 2004, luxury's paradoxical ambition to go mass became clear. After all, it's hard to build a multi-billion-dollar brand on sales to the privileged few.Phase 2: Ditching Big SeasonsSince Lagerfelds H&M partnership, there have been hundreds of high-low collaborations. And, de facto, every designer who took part in these tie-ups inevitably became a fast fashion designer,
 too, and adopted some of fast fashions approach to seasons.Seeing the fluid, seasonless style updates fast fashion was offering, often up to 100 times a year, high-end labels must have felt restricted by the traditional system of producing two collections a year. To be sure, it was terribly slow for a new generation of hyper-connected consumers that thrived on constant change.At first, they developed pre-collections. Resort, once a small collection for winter holidays offered by a relatively small number of fashion houses, became the norm, and an opportunity to deliver fresh designs to stores before the spring. That led to the development of pre-fall, which served the same purpose in the second half of the year.Now, most international fashion houses rely on monthly product drops, reminiscent of fast fashion (and streetwear) brands, backed with social media campaigns, which enable them to be much more flexible and in sync with consumer demand.Phase 3: The Stan Smith SyndromeAbsorbing the logic of fast fashion has also meant changing the principles of design itself. Designer fashion is rooted in innovation, originality and the shock of the new. While copying is rife, there is no greater insult to a designer than being called unoriginal. But that ethos, too, has been slowly but surely changing over the past decade.These days, collections often start with lists of top-selling products.In what might be called the "Stan

TITLE: 6 Ways Fashion Could Become More Sustainable In 2023
LINK: https://www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/article/sustainable-fashion-trends?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_social-type=owned
DESCRIPTION:While the conversation around sustainability in fashion has grown in recent years, progress remains slow. In fact, a recent study by Stand.Earth found that only one of 10 major brands it looked at  all of which have signed up to the United Nations Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action  was on track to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 55 per cent by 2030 and keep in line with the Paris Agreements 1.5C limit. The need for greater accountability from brands, then, is likely to be a strong focus next year. Addressing the issue of greenwashing will be key, as a raft of new legislation looks to crackdown on brands that are overstating or not telling the full truth about the eco-credentials of their products. Meanwhile, the 10-year anniversary of the devastating Rana Plaza collapse, when 1,134 people died following the collapse of a garment factory complex in Dhaka, Bangladesh, will see a renewed focus on the need for greater protection for garment workers. Below, see six ways the fashion industry could become more sustainable in 2023.Read more: Spring/Summer 2023 Fashion TrendsRetailers embracing rental In recent years, weve seen a number of major retailers integrating resale onto their websites, as the demand for second-hand has grown. Now, its the turn of rental, with the likes of Selfridges, MatchesFashion and Harrods all now offering customers the opportunity to loan luxury pieces. Expect to see the trend continue, as companies explore more circular business models going forward. I think five years from now every serious brand, and definitely every multi-brand retailer, will have rental [fashion] within their offering, Victoria Prew, CEO and co-founder of rental platform Hurr, says in British Vogues January 2023 issue.Recycling technologies scaling up Recycling has long been a sticking point for the fashion industry, as less than one per cent of garments is currently turned into new clothes again. A number of innovators have been working to change that  including Swedish company Renewcell, via its recycled fibre Circulose thats made from 100 per cent textile waste. In 2023, I hope well see the fruits of brands investment into recycled cellulosic fibres start to reach the consumer market in earnest, George Harding-Rolls, campaigns manager at Changing Markets Foundation, comments. There are small but sure signs that fashions much fted circularity ambitions are starting to be stitched together
. Moving towards regenerative materialsAs well as reusing textiles that already exist, a growing number of brands are also looking to adopt more regenerative fibres  materials that are produced in a way thats beneficial for ecosystems and improves biodiversity. Stella

TITLE: Here's What It Takes For Fashion Brands To Be Sustainable. Can The Industry Be Saved?
LINK: https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/can-fashion-be-sustainable
DESCRIPTION:This story was originally published on September 25, 2020.By now, the fashion industrys harmful effects on the environment are well-known. With natural resources being used faster than they can be renewed, and more clothing produced by brands (and thrown out by consumers) than ever before, the environmental impact of the industry, as it currently operates, is catastrophic. In the U.S., 11 million tons of textiles go into landfills every year, says Kristy Caylor, CEO and co-founder of For Days, a zero-waste, organic line of basics. When these clothes decompose, they release methane which is more harmful than CO2. With this in mind, many fashion brands have been reconsidering their practices over the last few years. In 2015, Mara Hoffman, the founder of the eponymous fashion brand, made a turn for the sustainable. The switch was prompted by discomfort. When I started to learn about the fashion industrys harmful impact on the environment, I realized that I wasnt willing to move the company forward in this way any longer, Hoffman tells Refinery29. It also came from a heightened awareness of having a kid who was three at the time, and understanding what my actual legacy would be and what his reality would be, dealing with the stuff I left behind. This left us with two options: to close shop or completely change our methods. So we chose to change our methods.Now, she is one of the leading voices of sustainability in fashion, and as well known for that as for her aesthetic. But, according to her, the switch wasnt easy. [Six] years ago was a different world in sustainability, it was challenging to convince the wholesalers that had been buying from us for years and had certain expectations that this new way was what people would want down the line, Hoffman says. However, she has proven shes on the right side of history: Consumers shopping habits have indeed been changing, with an increasing number of shoppers in 2020 interested in secondhand fashion and sustainable brands.We have seen shifts in how our customer thinks about sustainability. In the early days [the mid-90s], they used to ask about where the product was made or whether the product was made in a sweatshop. When we first started to celebrate Earth Day in our retail stores [in the mid-2000s]  with a focus on organic product  the customer would ask what the difference was between organic and natural, says
 Amy Hall, VP of Social Consciousness at Eileen Fisher, a brand that has been a champion of the movement long before it was one, and whose sustainable practices range from the fabrics selected to its take-back programs. Now, we hear about all kinds of issues from our customers, such as animal welfare, living wages, and chemical toxicity. Our customer is much more educated and informed than a decade ago.Photo: Courtesy of Eileen Fisher.Photo: Courtesy of Eileen Fisher.Cassandra Dittmer, a sustainable brand consultant and stylist, confirms that todays consumer wants to make better choices: People do understand the need to shop sustainably. Conceptually we know it's the right thing to do, but access to responsible brands is not always readily available. She points to price as one of the biggest factors that deters shoppers from buying sustainable fashion, which is typically more expensive to buy new. Being able to shop sustainably is a huge privilege because that means you

TITLE: The unknown history of platform shoes
LINK: https://www.interviewmagazine.com/art/the-unknown-history-of-platform-shoes
DESCRIPTION:IMAGE COURTESY OF BALENCIAGA. Towering shoes, so high they threaten to break an ankle, are closely associated with the late 90s, when Spice World was still a box office boon. Platforms, whether they are bejeweled sandals or perspex boots, actually go back a lot further. Its an item that has transcended trend and earned its place in the annals of fashionan ancient garment thats been valued as both fashionable and functional, despite its apparent danger to the wearer. The Museum of Modern Art in New Yorks Items: Is Fashion Modern? exhibition explores sky-high footwear alongside 111 other items of clothing and accessories that have had a strong, global impact in the 20th and 21st centuries. Items takes an encyclopedic, alphabetical approach to pieces including Air Force 1 sneakers, Burkinis, Door-Knocker Earrings, Kilts, Spanx, Tracksuits, and Yoga Pants. Most recently, Balenciagas SS18 show in Paris included decorated four-inch crocs. The platform shoe is so prevalent across geographies, time periods, and styles, says Paola Antonelli, Senior Curator in MoMAs Department of Architecture and Design. It was impossible not to include it as a typology. Garments and accessories change our shape, at times in ways that offer us power and freedom, and at others, in ways that compromise our autonomy or make us conform more closely to particular standards. Platform shoes can transform their wearers stature and make them more imposingor they can almost hobble their wearers, much like stilettos, profoundly altering body posture and appearance. The platforms on show have been curated and presented chronologically from the 1930s to the present, getting larger and taller through time. Included are platforms by Delman, Vivienne Westwood, and Alexander McQueen, and stage platforms owned by Elton John. We tried to show the ways in which platforms have been a regular part of fashions lexicon, but also changed rapidly and often, adds Antonelli. Its much like the Little Black Dress, which has retained its color but changed its silhouette over the decades. The platform shoe is similarly chameleonic. The history of the platform begins around 600 BCE; the Greeks used them in plays, to increase the height of characters. High-status women also wore them. During the Middle Ages, the Venetians platforms were called Chopines
, while much of the rest of Europes platforms were called Pattens. Both Chopines and Pattens were worn to avoid wet, rainy streets. These platforms had thick, wooden soles and various forms of leather strapping, ensuring both height and relative stability, and often high social standing. In use until the early 20th century, Pattens typically held in another shoe and were sported by both men and women. There are tales of their ostentatiousness leading some English Christian churches to forbid their priests to wear them. Alternately, Spanish rabbis of this era attributed wisdom to those who wore Pattens on Shabbat. In the 15th century, the Spaniards had allocated the majority of their cork resources to the soles of their own, more conical version of the Chopine. These, as well as those worn by the Venetians, often required the help of two servants to put on and assist the wearer in walking. Venetian women, in particular, are credited with Chopines that, during the 16th century, provided as much as 20 inches of extra heighta signal of wealth that allowed for lengthier skirts. During this era, the platforms sex appeal had already been well-established through use by high-class prostitutes. In Europe, they were worn by courtesans, providing an extravagant, alluring tilt for attracting customers; in Japan, they were first called Getaa more flip-flop-like platform, with soles like teethworn by geishas to protect their expensive kimonos from mud. The Chinese called their version of this dain

TITLE: A short history of Balenciaga | Fashion Quarterly
LINK: https://fq.co.nz/gallery/short-history-balenciaga/
DESCRIPTION:18 June 2018 The luxury fashion house has had many reincarnations since its visionary designer retired 50 years ago. Balenciaga gave the world fashion. He was the beginning of everything, everything that is news  forever, said legendary fashion editor Diana Vreeland. Listing everything from raincoats to black stockings, plus the most luxurious fabrics and colour combinations, Vreeland credited designer Cristbal Balenciaga for creating the future of fashion. Before he was lauded as one of the greatest designers of the 20th century, Balenciaga grew up in a small village in the Gipuzkoa region of Spain, with his widowed mother who worked as a seamstress to get by. With no formal training, the Basque designer opened his first boutique in nearby San Sebastin in 1919, followed by stores in Madrid and Barcelona. The outlets, called Eisa after his mothers maiden name Eisaguirre, were forced to close during the Spanish Civil War, but the resilient creative began again in Paris  officially opening the house of Balenciaga in 1937. Right: Spanish couturier Cristbal Balenciaga photographed in 1927. Right: One of his creations appearing in Vogue 1957. Ambidextrous, the designer would drape his couture concoctions directly over a mannequin, obsessively trying to perfect the clean lines and cuts of the fabric with equal skill in each hand. Although he avoided the limelight  its said hed sneak into his study when collections were being presented in the salon to start work on the next  the master of tailoring began to make a name for himself as an innovator in womens fashion. Focusing on broader shoulders and new volumes, he developed a luxurious silhouette, often making the detailed backs of garments the star of his shows. His work was described as equal to sculpture, architecture and objet dart in its precision and allure. Despite all this, the maven closed his Paris maison in 1968, before passing away four years later aged 77. The fashion house remained silent for almost two decades, before a new wave of designers were employed, in quick succession, to transport the brand into the 21st century. FQ charts the history of Balenciaga designers, a moments, below: 1/6 Michel Goma 1987-1992: After the family company known as The Bogart Group acquired the rights to Balenciaga, Michel Goma was put in charge
 to design colourful ready-to-wear collections. He fancied shorter hems, but not so short they were deemed boring, or very long skirts  and he also found a niche in the chemise. Pictured here: Michel Gomas collection at Paris Fashion Week Spring/Summer 1991. 2/6 Josephus Thimister 1992-1997: The noted interior decorator and designer took on Balenciagas original semi-tailored look to elevate the house back to high-fashion status during his tenure as creative director. Until, that was, he was dismissed when the audience walked out on his show in 1997 due to its punishingly loud live soundtrack by electronic band Add N to (X). Pictured here: Balenciaga Ready to Wear Autumn/Winter 97-98 under Josephus Thimister.

TITLE: Brand story of Balenciaga
LINK: https://www.luxuryabode.com/blog/the-brand-story-of-the-brilliant-balenciaga/artid96
DESCRIPTION:Balenciaga: Racing through Reincarnations Well, who does not remember Cardi Bs iconic song I Like It where she casually mentions the Balenciagas, the ones that look like socks? I certainly do and so does most of the Gen Z. Founded by Cristbal Balenciaga in 1937, Balenciaga alters the idea of beauty in the multiverse of fashion and represents a revolution, one that questions the very essence of traditional fashion. From its conception as a pioneer of haute couture to todays swanky street style mainstay, this brand has had many reincarnations. THE MASTER: Cristbal Balenciaga (1937-1972) Before being lauded by Christian Dior as Master of us all, Cristbal grew up in a town in northern Spain. His mother was a seamstress to the royal families of Spain and worked with the most glamorous women of her time. At a tender age of 12, he bagged his first apprenticeship in San Sebastian, wherein 1917 he opened his own fashion house called Eisa, short for his mothers maiden name. He went on to start shop in Barcelona and Madrid as well. Unfortunately, the Spanish Civil War in 1937 forced him to shut shop. Shortly after, he moved to Paris and opened the House of Balenciaga and soon became a couturier of uncompromised standards. Source : pinterest.com His early start in the world of fashion gave him an edge but what truly set him apart was his unparalleled understanding and manipulation of fabrics, dramatic use of texture and colour and his exquisite craftsmanship. He produced ground breaking female silhouettes and never-before-seen shapes, thus, setting the stage for modern design. His classics, the envelope and sack dress abstracted the body and eliminated the waist. Most designers started with the sketch but Cristbal began his constructions process with the fabric. His unrivalled understanding of the craft and architecture of garments earned him the praise of many designers. Christian Dior said, "Haute Couture is like an orchestra, whose conductor is Balenciaga. We other Couturiers are the musicians and we follow the direction he gives." Unlike Diors hourglass silhouette, Balenciaga used fluid lines, broad shoulders, big volumes and unusual shapes. The wearability, precision and allure of his garments earned him a prominent position in mainstream fashion. The 1950s and 1960s were the most creative periods of
 his career. The late 1960s turned tables for the house of Balenciaga and caused its closure. Marking the end of a great era of fashion, Cristbal passed away in 1972. Cristbals Design Timeline 1953 The balloon jacket. Source : pinterest.com 1955 The tunic dress. 1957 Source : pinterest.com The chemise, the cocoon coat, the balloon skirt, the baby doll dress, the sack dress. Balenciaga sack dress, 1957 (Photo credit: Thomas Kublin, courtesy of Balenciaga Archives Paris) 1959 The Empire line, with high-waisted dresses and kimono coats. Balenciaga empire dress, 1959 (Photo credit: Balenciaga Archives Paris) 1960 Balenciaga makes the wedding dress for Fabiola de Mora y Ar

TITLE: 'They have caused chaos, gone viral and created a sellout buzz': the rise and fall of the fashion house Balenciaga
LINK: https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2023/dec/30/they-have-caused-chaos-gone-viral-and-created-a-sellout-buzz-the-rise-and-fall-of-the-fashion-house-balenciaga
DESCRIPTION:he trailer for new Disney+ TV drama Cristbal Balenciaga is a feast of mid-century elegance. The miniseries tells the tale of the Spanish designer and fashion innovator, revered for his dress designs from the 1950s and 60s. His story deserves to be as well known as that of Coco Chanel or Hubert de Givenchy. However, this tale of rags to riches couldnt be further from the house of Balenciaga today  arguably the most controversial major fashion house of the modern age.Cristbal ended his brand in the 1960s but it was revived again in the 1990s.Under the stewardship of current creative director Demna Gvasalia (knownby his first name) since 2015, the current iteration of Balenciaga has pioneered a thoroughly modern fashion idea: stunt dressing. Photograph: Boris Lipnitzki/GettySome of Balenciagas greatest hits include a towel doubling as a skirt, with a 695 price tag. There were also purposefully dirty trainers, a catwalk covered in mud, a collection modelled by the Simpsons and a bag resembling Ikeas 3.99 Frakta, but which cost 1,790. All of these things have caused outrage, gone viral and created sellout buzz.But sometimes this tendency to provoke goes too far. Late last year, the brand was under fire and eventually apolog=ised for an advertising campaign depicting children who were holding teddybears in bondage outfits and featuring legal documents relating to child sexual abuse.In March 2023, for his first collection since that scandal, Demna appeared to have turned over a new leaf, saying he would no longer design collections that press buttons. But last month, however, Balenciaga staged a show in LA designed to satirise the green juice and yoga stereotype of the citys residents. It was next-level stunt dressing. Models wore leggings and used their phones while walking down a runway in front of the Hollywood sign. There was even a collaboration with Erewhon, a cult LA grocery store frequented by celebrities including Hailey Bieber, and famous for $22 smoothies.Balenciaga has thus become one of the most influential fashion houses with younger generations. Nina Maria, who writes about fashion for publications including 1Granary, created by students at Central Saint Martins. She says: Balenciaga has the sort of audience who would buy a towel skirt. If Chan
el did that, I dont think anyone would buy it  Demna knows how to engineer social media. Its about an immediate moment.

TITLE: Are These the Most Expensive Jeans in the World?
LINK: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/06/style/balenciaga-valentino-chanel-couture.html
DESCRIPTION:AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTFashion ReviewAre These the Most Expensive Jeans in the World?Valentino and Balenciaga make the case that sometimes the most spectacular clothes are the hardest to recognize  and replicate. Chanel takes it easy.Valentino, couture, fall 2023.Credit...Simbarashe Cha for The New York TimesPublished July 6, 2023Updated July 7, 2023, 2:39 a.m. ETAt around peak rush hour on the penultimate day of the couture shows a line of black cars snaked out of Paris, past grassy fields and factories 30 miles north to the 16th-century Chteau de Chantilly. Guests in brightly colored plumage were disgorged to teeter down a long stone walkway that opened to a vista of reflecting pools and manicured lawns set around a central fountain surrounded by a labyrinth of benches. That was where, as golden hour set in, a magic Valentino show began  with Kaia Gerber in a pair of jeans and a white shirt.Jeans?Granted, they werent just any jeans: they were made from silk gazar entirely embroidered in micro beads dyed 80 different shades of indigo to resemble denim, but still. Abracadabra.They looked like jeans.Jeans  or their very fancy doppelgngers  have been the biggest trend of the week. Aside from those opening jeans, the Valentino collection also included upcycled Levis from the 1966 rare big E edition appliqud in gold, worn with a plunging sleeveless white shirt and a nubby knit coat in deep sapphire blue shrugged off to the elbows so it slithered behind like a train.There were more jeans, likewise made from trompe loeil beading, in the Jean Paul Gaultier collection guest designed by Julien Dossena, and lots of jeans in all stages of distress at Balenciaga, which also were not denim at all but oil-painted canvas that took two and a half months to create.Faux jeans at, from left, Jean Paul Gaultier by Julien Dossena, Valentino and Balenciaga.Credit...From left: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images, Valentino, Balenciaga.The idea of high-luxury faux jeans is not exactly new  Matthieu Bl
azy transformed leather into denim for his Bottega Veneta debut a year ago  but it may represent, more than any mega ball gown, where all of this is heading. It sounds bizarre, like a desperate couture attempt at streetwear, or worse, like a Marie Antoinette playing-at-shepherdess scenario (both of which are not out of the realm of the possible). But, in fact, what the jeans really signal is a shift back to a more essential way of approaching couture.Which is to say less as a look-at-me crystal-bedecked attention grab, and more as an inside story; clothes that are like a secret only the wearer would know, because only the wearer knows how much work it took to make something so apparently simple. Something that is literally impossible to make, except by hand. In the advent of the age of A.I., that may be the most precious thing of all.Casual CoutureIndeed, casual couture, as Demna, the mononymic designer of Balenciaga, called it backstage after his show, or couture you dont see, has been a hallmark of the season.

TITLE: Controversy Brewing over Countries of Origin of Luxury Goods
LINK: http://www.businesskorea.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=20530
DESCRIPTION:A number of luxury goods brands including Balenciaga Louis Vuitton and Prada produce their products in Eastern European countries and China and then just attach labels in Italy. It has been found that Balenciaga replaced its Triple S Sneakers made in Italy with the same product made in China in the South Korean market without any notification. This change in country of origin was discovered by South Korean consumers. The product in the market had a Made in Italy mark on its insole until the winter of 2017, but those currently available have a Made in China mark inside the tongue. In fact, Balenciaga is not the only one doing so. A number of luxury goods brands produce their products in Eastern European countries and China and then just attach labels in Italy. Moreover, some of the others are churning out their products in China even without doing so. Louis Vuitton is one of the typical examples. Louis Vuitton shoes are produced in its factory located in Rumania and just soles are attached in Italy along with Made in Italy tags. This is because the country of origin according to the EUs rules of origin is where the final production process is carried out. This practice is causing controversy in Europe as well. A French broadcasting station recently reported that Prada and Gucci are producing shoes in the same way. Gucci has produced some sneakers in Serbia since 2004 and Prada is producing shoe tops in Slovenia. In addition, Prada, Burberry, Armani, Dolce & Gabbana, Miu Miu and so on are producing products in China. About 20% of Prada bags, clothes and shoes are manufactured in China. They are continuing to mark up their prices while moving from country to country to save labor costs. This is particularly conspicuous in the South Korean market, where more expensive things tend to be more popular. Chanel raised the prices of its products in the market three times in 2017 alone and Hermes recently did so in just one year.

TITLE: 12 Materials Of The Future That Could Change The Face Of Fashion
LINK: https://www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/article/new-sustainable-materials
DESCRIPTION:Given that the production and processing of materials makes up the majority of fashions carbon footprint, its no wonder there has been a renewed focus on textile innovation across the industry of late. Just this year, weve seen Stella McCartney launch its first bag made from Mylo, an alternative leather made from mushroom roots; Zara unveil its first products made from LanzaTechs carbon-capturing material; and Gucci-owner Kering investing in lab-grown leather start-up VitroLabs. Its a welcome development for Nina Marenzi, founder of the Future Fabrics Expo, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. Ten years ago, it was just not understood why there was a need in the first place to have materials that have a lower environmental impact, she tells Vogue. [Now] its become very clear that unless you really are involved in these discussions [and] trying to establish these partnerships, youre going to be left behind.Finding an alternative to traditional leather is one area thats seen a large amount of innovation, given that the cattle industry as a whole is responsible for an estimated 14.5 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions globally. Among the frontrunners are mycelium-based materials, such as Mylo and MycoWorks, alongside plastic-free alternatives such as Mirum. Weve always said that if you move away from leather, you have to really look at what you are replacing it with, Marenzi says. And if youre replacing it with plastic, thats not right.Theres also been a drive towards developing recycled textiles using post-consumer waste, which has been a huge challenge for the industry to date (often, recycled materials used in fashion come from manufacturing waste or other industries, with plastic bottles being a prime example). Even five years ago, when there was talk about textile-to-textile recycling, people were thinking thats something [for further] in the future; its too far away, Marenzi continues. But if you show them pioneering trials, and say, Look, this is possible, then we can actually scale it.Meanwhile, bio-based alternatives to synthetics, including Clarus, which turns natural fibres into high-performance materials, and Kintra, a corn-based polyester thats fully biodegradable, are also on the rise. Below, see 12 of the most exciting materials of the future you need to know now.Leather alternativesMyl
oBacked by Stella McCartney, Adidas, Gucci-owner Kering and Lululemon, Mylo is an un-leather made from mycelium, or fungi roots. Large sheets of fluffy foam are grown from fungal cells, before going through the regular tanning process that animal hides undergo. While primarily made from bio-based materials, Mylo is not completely plastic-free  although it has set a goal of eliminating synthetic content altogether.ReishiLike Mylo, MycoWorks

TITLE: 3 Innovative Fabrics That Could Revolutionize Fashion
LINK: https://www.treehugger.com/innovative-fabrics-could-change-face-fashion-4857877
DESCRIPTION:Updated November 11, 2020 Moving away from resource-intensive cotton and plastic-shedding polyester is feasible with these fascinating, eco-friendly alternatives. Walk into a clothing store these days, and youll see that most clothes are cotton, polyester, or a blend of the two. Higher end stores might offer linen and wool, but for the most part, were fixated on a few select materials with which to make our clothes. This will likely change in coming years. There are fascinating discoveries being made in the textile world. Designers and inventers are discovering methods for making fabrics that are more sustainable and do not involve vast quantities of water and pesticides (like cotton) or disperse plastic microfiber pollution with every wash (polyester). 1. Pinatex  Pinatex This fascinating material requires no additional water or chemicals to make because it comes from waste products  the leftover leaves from pineapple trees. An estimated 40,000 tons of leaves are generated annually, most of which are burned or left to rot. Fibers are extracted from leaves and turned into a non-woven textile thats an excellent leather alternative. One might argue its better than plastic-based vegan leathers because its biodegradable and not made from fossil fuels. Designers like Pinatex because it comes in a roll, reducing the waste created by irregularly-shaped animal hides. It is strong, lightweight, easy to stitch and print on. Dezeen reported: Around 480 leaves go into the creation of a single square metre of Piatex, which weighs and costs less than a comparable amount of leather. Several months ago, I wrote about shoes made from Pinatex, and since then Ive seen the name popping up all over the online eco-fashion world. This is a material youll start noticing. 2. MycoTEX  NEFFA/MycoTEX -- Swatches of fabric grown from mushroom mycelium More peculiar than pineapple fibers, MycoTEX is fabric grown from mushroom mycelium. Mycelium is the vegetative part of a mushroom, consisting of a network of fine white filaments (dictionary). Dutch designer Aniela Hoitink came up with the idea of growing a garment from the living product, after observing soft-bodied species that grow by replicating themselves over and over again following a modular pattern. The resulting dress is built three-dimensionally, allowing it to take on the shape and fit that the
 wearer wants. It can be easily repaired, lengthened, or replaced; the mycelium can create extra patterns and embellishments; and just enough fabric

TITLE: 5 fashions made from unusual materials – DW – 01/16/2018
LINK: https://www.dw.com/en/high-five-5-materials-you-probably-didnt-know-are-used-to-make-clothes/a-37179880
DESCRIPTION:High Five: 5 materials you probably didn't know are used to make clothes From glasses made of vinyl to hats formed with chocolate  the fashion industry doesn't always settle for glass and cotton. Some designers prefer to work with material that isn't usually associated with the catwalk.Image: picture-alliance/dpa/GebertIt can be hard to come up with revolutionary new styles these days  we've already seen practically everything. That's why some fashion designers, eager to show off their creativity, go for materials that some of us would consider a bit weird. A famous example is the dress American singer Lady Gaga wore during the MTV Music Video Awards in 2010, when she took to the stage in a garment made of raw beef. The, um, tasteful ensemble created by Argentine designer Franc Fernandez was accented with a hat, shoes and a handbag made of steak. Equally edible, but far less smelly, are dresses shown at the Salon du Chocolat. Part of the opening ceremony at the annual fair promoting the latest chocolate trends is a huge fashion show presenting dresses made of the world's favorite treat. Each year, renowned chocolate producers get together with famous fashion designers like France's Isadora Delarose and Jean Luc Decluzeau to create dresses, hats, corsages and even jewelry made of chocolate. One of the biggest challenges is to make them durable, so they won't melt during the show  a difficult endeavor once room temperatures reach 30 degree Celsius (upwards of 85 degrees Fahrenheit). Our High Five ranking takes a closer look at these confectionery creations, and other fashion articles made of unusual materials.

TITLE: How Sustainable Is Your Wardrobe?
LINK: https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/how-sustainable-is-your-wardrobe
DESCRIPTION:With the launch of Gucci Equilibrium  an online platform "designed to connect people, planet and purpose"  in the same week as both World Environment Day and World Oceans Day, the brand picked the perfect moment to start a fresh conversation about the impact of the clothing industry. Cynics might call out such efforts  but consider this: according to the 2015 Nielsen Global Corporate Sustainability Report, 73 percent of millennials would pay more for sustainable products. There is clearly a business argument for taking the pressure off our planet  and that means there may be real substance behind Gucci's plan.Read more: Gucci Furthers Its Commitment To Sustainability With Gucci EquilibriumAccording to the 2018 Pulse of the Fashion Industry report, other brands are listening too: it revealed that 75 percent of fashion companies have improved their environmental and social performance over the past year. But with the demand for greener goods comes the demand for greater transparency. Much like the word "healthy" in relation to food, there are few trading standards that define what "sustainable" or "conscious fashion" actually mean. And until there are, greenwashing  the practice of making an unsubstantiated or misleading claim about the environmental benefits of a product, service, technology or company practice  is likely to be widespread across the industry and beyond. To gain a better understanding of what is being done to rectify the issue, Vogue interviews key players working to reduce the environmental impact of the fashion industry.Read more: The Young Designers Pioneering A Sustainable Fashion RevolutionWhat are the world's biggest luxury brands doing to reduce their environmental impact?Marie-Claire Daveu, chief sustainability officer at Kering:"The classical evaluation system for measuring the sustainability of a company simply isn't accurate if it doesn't look beyond its own operations. So we developed a pioneering tool back in 2011 known as the Environmental Profit & Loss, to help us better understand our environmental impact in order to reduce it. Thanks to this, we discovered that only 7 percent of the impacts came from directly within the company (stores and offices)  but a staggering 93 percent of the issues were directly linked to our supply chain, for example cotton and cattle farming. This means if we really want to improve our business model, we need to trace our supply chain right back to the raw materials. For example, many of our brands  from Bottega Veneta to Saint Laurent  work with leather, so we developed a
 metal-free tanning process which is more environmentally friendly as it reduces pollution as well as water and energy consumption. If our aim is to protect the planet and we only look within our own operations, we aren't doing our job  the whole supply chain has to be taken into account."So what can we do as consumers?"Sustainability is such a broad word and it's confusing for customers to navigate what it actually means when there aren't any trading standards around it. For example, just because a T-shirt is made from organic cotton doesn't mean it wasn't made in a sweatshop. It might be an exciting idea to make trainers using recycled plastic from the ocean, but what happens when those trainers end up in a landfill site? We, as designers, have to think of sustainability holistically, and always ask what happens to a garment after we've made it. As for consumers, the best way to be a more sustainable shopper is to buy less cheap and more quality. You should also decide what sustainability means to you: is fair trade most important, or

TITLE: Weird and Wonderful Sustainable Fabrics You're About to See Much More Of
LINK: https://www.anothermag.com/fashion-beauty/13809/sustainable-fabrics-mushroom-grape-leather-spinnova
DESCRIPTION:Amber Valletta in the Stella McCartney Autumn/Winter 2019 campaignAlgae, mushrooms and pineapples are the unlikely ingredients for a series of bizarre sustainable materials being employed by the likes of Stella McCartney, Herms, and GucciJanuary 12, 2022 In the path towards a more sustainable fashion industry, brands and designers are branching out beyond ubiquitous materials like cotton and polyester and instead tapping into unexpected resources. Spirulina, wood pulp and even grapes are providing the foundations for a new raft of fibres and fabrics that are pushing the boundaries of material science and technology. Here, we explore the weird and wonderful materials you can expect to see a lot more of over the coming year, from brands like Ganni, Gucci and Adidas. Biodegradable stretch denim Over the past few years, photographs have emerged showing partially biodegraded jeans that leave thousands of plastic threads behind. Synthetic, fossil-fuel derived fibres take tens or even hundreds of years to break down and are a widespread blight on the environment. To tackle the issue while still giving us stretchy jeans, heritage denim manufacturers Candiani Denim patented Coreva: a plant-based yarn made from natural rubber which is then wrapped in organic cotton, creating a completely plastic-free stretch denim. We went through the testing, and we discovered we landed on a bigger deal than just a biobased elastomer. Its biobased, its biodegradable, and its compostable. And when it does compost, you get regenerative properties that facilitate germination, says global manager of Candiani Denim, Alberto Candiani. So were looking at a circular system based on fabrics that at the end of life can be returned to nature as a biofertilizer. Other brands whove embraced the technology include sustainability stalwarts Stella McCartney, Hiut, and Kings of Indigo. Grape leather on the runway at Marni Autumn/Winter 2020 Grape leather Biomaterials company Vegea uses the byproducts of the winemaking process, vegetal oils, and natural fibres from agriculture to make whats being called grape leather. Although flying under the radar in terms of consumer recognition, the material has already been used by the likes of Marni, H&M, and Mr Porter. Its most high profile application, however, will undoubtedly be in Gannis love-them-or-hate-

TITLE: Can fashion ever be sustainable?
LINK: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200310-sustainable-fashion-how-to-buy-clothes-good-for-the-climate
DESCRIPTION:(Image credit: Alamy/Javier Hirschfeld)Fashion accounts for around 10% of greenhouse gas emissions from human activity, but there are ways to reduce the impact your wardrobe has on the climate. For years I was obsessed with buying clothes, says Snezhina Piskova. I would buy 10 pairs of very cheap jeans just for the sake of having more diversity in my wardrobe for a low price, even though I ended up wearing only two or three of them. When it comes to resisting the lure of fashion, Piskova faces a tougher challenge than most. As a copywriter for a company in the fashion industry shes surrounded by fashionistas. And its been easy to go along with the tide. But conversations about the climate crisis made Piskova, who lives in Sofia, Bulgaria, consider the impact that the industry and her own shopping habits were having. The fashion industry accounts for about 8-10% of global carbon emissions, and nearly 20% of wastewater. And while the environmental impact of flying is now well known, fashion sucks up more energy than both aviation and shipping combined. You might also like:  Should you go on a "flight diet"?  Why your bin is a climate problem  The surprising cost of being online Clothing in general has complex supply chains that makes it difficult to account for all of the emissions that come from producing a pair of trousers or new coat. Then there is how the clothing is transported and disposed of when the consumer no longer wants it anymore.The fashion industry is responsible for more carbon emissions than those that come from aviation (Credit: Getty Images/Alamy/Javier Hirschfeld)While most consumer goods suffer from similar issues, what makes the fashion industry particularly problematic is the frenetic pace of change it not only undergoes, but encourages. With each passing season (or microseason), consumers are pushed into buying the latest items to stay on trend. Its hard to visualise all of the inputs that go into producing garments, but lets take denim as an example. The UN estimates that a single pair of jeans requires a kilogram of cotton. And because cotton tends to be grown in dry environments, producing this kilo requires about 7,50010,000 litres of water. Thats about 10 years worth of drinking water

TITLE: Op-Ed | The Revolution Will Not Be Serifised: Why Every Luxury Brand's Logo Looks the Same
LINK: https://www.businessoffashion.com/opinions/luxury/the-revolution-will-not-be-serifised-why-every-luxury-brands-logo-looks-the-same-burberry-balmain-balenciaga/
DESCRIPTION:LONDON, United Kingdom  Most of you will have by now seen the meme doing the rounds recently, demonstrating in black and white how brands as diverse as Burberry and Balenciaga have converged on the same sans-serif font. Some of you might have read the articles that have followed in its wake, analysing this surprising image volte-face by the fashion industry. Commentators and the comments section have been divided on its aesthetic values (or perceived lack thereof.)However, most are in agreement about the surprising uniformity of the rebrands, most of which have taken place in the last couple of years, suggesting a concerted effort by the industry to prepare for a radically different future. But what if the rebrand has little to do with the future and more to do with what the past represents today?Hypebeast best summarised the conventional wisdom in an article last September. For those of you who haven't read the articles, perhaps the most comprehensive to date was published by Hypebeast in September 2018. In it, branding specialists point to the practical benefits of what Burberry's Riccardo Tisci has called the "modern utility" of sans-serif typefaces. Cleaner and more legible, they are suited to a variety of media and work particularly well online. The purity of these fonts allows the brands to be an empty vessel, ready to accommodate rapidly shifting trends and a variety of premium mediocre products that are coming to define the new luxury landscape. So far, so obvious?For a global creative industry, homogeneity is dangerous.While these prosaic explanations make sense, they leave the reader feeling unsatisfied, given the magnitude and uniformity of the shift. Particularly when Virgil Abloh, the designer of the moment, is claiming that we are "at the dawn of a new Renaissance." So what is really going on? He cannot be referring to a resurrection of classical aesthetics because all serifs, the symbol of antiquity in writing, have been banished. In this instance, there would appear to be a rebirth of the iconoclastic fervour of the Bauhaus Modernists who saw ornamentation as a symbol of bourgeois oppression. Significantly, Abloh goes on to say that "with the internet and today's media, our opinions of the past are being reconsidered and each and every one of us can create their own destiny." Here, he is clearly implying that the past was a closed
, undemocratic place where very few were able to create their own destiny.Its hard to argue with this point of view. The Christian names of the founders of the aforementioned luxury houses are Yves, Cristobal, Thomas, Alessandro and Pierre. Not necessarily straight, but certainly a group of white males, who might be considered a patriarchy in modern parlance.Like Hollywood, the fashion industry has made it clear which side it addresses when it comes to the culture wars. Mark Parker, chief executive of Nike recently stated in the Highsnobiety Incomplete Guide that "consumers also want to know what you stand for as a company" and that it's important to "speak out against inequalities."No surprise that major luxury

TITLE: V&A · Introducing Cristóbal Balenciaga
LINK: https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/introducing-cristobal-balenciaga
DESCRIPTION:Share Famed for his exquisite craftmanship and innovative designs, Spanish couturier Cristbal Balenciaga was known as 'The Master' of haute couture. An inspiration to those who follow in his footsteps, his work continues to shape fashion today. Haute couture is like an orchestra whose conductor is Balenciaga. We other couturiers are the musicians and we follow the direction he gives. Christian Dior Meet 'The Master'Born in 1895 in Getaria, a small fishing village in the Basque region of northern Spain, Cristbal Balenciaga was introduced to fashion by his mother, who was a seamstress. Her clients included the most fashionable and glamorous women in the village. Aged just twelve, he began an apprenticeship at a tailor's in the neighbouring fashionable resort of San Sebastian, where in 1917 he established his first fashion house, named Eisa  a shortening of his mother's maiden name. Cristobal Balenciaga at work, 1968, Paris, France. Photograph by Henri Cartier-Bresson.  Henri Cartier-Bresson/Magnum Photos Balenciaga opened fashion houses in Barcelona and Madrid before moving to Paris in 1937. The house on Avenue Georges V quickly became the city's most expensive and exclusive couturier. His early training set him apart from other couturiers of the time. He knew his craft inside out and was adept at every stage of the making process, from pattern drafting to cutting, assembling and finishing a garment. For him, the design process started with the fabric rather than with a sketch, "it's the fabric that decides" he stated, proving that he knew how to exploit materials to the very best effect. Balenciaga alone is a couturier in the truest sense of the word. Only he is capable of cutting material, assembling a creation and sewing it by hand, the others are simply fashion designers. Coco Chanel Flamenco-style evening dress, Cristobal Balenciaga, Paris, 1961. Photograph by Cecil Beaton, 1971  Cecil Beaton Studio Archive at Sotheby's Balenciaga's Spanish heritage influenced many of his most iconic designs. His wide-hipped 'Infanta' dresses from the late 1930s drew on the portraiture of the 17th-century Spanish artist Diego Velzquez. Flamenco dresses, matador outfits and black lace  seen in the
 traditional mantilla shawls worn by women at special ceremonies and during Spanish Holy Week  were also frequent motifs.

TITLE: Luxury's Decade of Change
LINK: https://www.businessoffashion.com/opinions/luxury/luxurys-decade-of-change/
DESCRIPTION:As the 2010s come to a close, BoF reflects on how the past decade transformed the fashion industry  and the culture at large. Explore our insights here.GENEVA, Switzerland  Over the past decade, the luxury goods sector has expanded at a healthy rate of approximately two times global GDP growth, largely powered by the rise of China, where new waves of wealth creation have given birth to millions of new luxury consumers. Ten years ago, Chinese shoppers drove less than 15 percent of global luxury consumption. In 2019, they will account for 35 percent of the market.In recent years, Chinas early adopters have become more sophisticated. Some have likely already left the personal luxury goods market, which long ago became dependent on upwardly mobile new money consumers. Chinas second generation of luxury consumers were different: they wanted newness at a faster and faster rate. And as they have come to drive most of the luxury markets growth, so too have they come to shape luxurys new aesthetics. In recent years, deeper penetration of the Chinese social pyramid has provided major tailwinds for luxury mega-brands to the point where it no longer makes sense to talk about the Chinese consumer. They are now many clusters of Chinese consumers, defying broad-brushed generalisations.In the last ten years, the digital revolution has also changed the shape of the luxury sector. Digital has rewired the way brands communicate with consumers: from monologue to conversation, from low-frequency to high-frequency, from mass market communications to segments of one, supported by exploding amount of data. This new media reality has broadened the audience for luxury brands and put pressure on companies to develop new expertise and processes, as well as a steady stream of fresh products for a world in which the rise of social media platforms like Instagram, too, have contributed to demand for newness.Digital has also rebooted how luxury retail works, forcing brands to ramp up their e-commerce efforts and invent ways to support traffic to their stores with strategies like flagship counter-standardisation, temporary exhibitions and pop-up stores. This is a major departure from the cookie-cutter retail networks and "selling ceremony" handbooks of the early part of the century.The rise of the internet has opened the door to new competition.Furthermore, the last decade has seen digital multi-brand and grey market players, which offer products at discounts, wooing shoppers away from full-price brand.com sites and thereby short-
circuiting the ambitions of fashion brands to sell online at full price. Now, brands are going through the painful of exercise of reducing their wholesale and grey market exposure.What's more, the rise of the internet has opened the door to new competition: new e-tailers with new business models but also new direct-to-consumer brands. Indeed, over the last decade, celebrities, major influencers and greenfield innovators have successfully launched new digital brands in categories from eyewear to beauty to footwear to fashion. These brands typically enjoy significantly lower overhead expenses, as they skip expensive physical stores, at least in their early stages, and have therefore been able to tap

TITLE: How Econyl became fashion's favourite eco-friendly material
LINK: https://www.voguebusiness.com/technology/econyl-sustainability-fabric-prada-gucci-burberry
DESCRIPTION:Make better business decisionsSign up to our newsletter for a truly global perspective on the fashion industryThe fabric is prized by brands from Gucci to Prada for its physical resemblance to traditional nylon and the transparency of its production process.August 19, 2019Key takeaways:Both designers and suppliers have embraced Econyl, a fabric that resembles traditional nylon both in quality and physical likeness.Since Econyl can be broken down and recreated repeatedly, it offers significant reductions in CO2-equivalent emissions.Customers and recycling plants like Econyls transparent approach, but the materials impact on microplastic pollution is unclear.Plastic is killing fish, turning up in food and raining down from the sky, and fashion brands are now racing to shrink their use of the non-biodegradable material. A growing number of luxury houses are pinning their hopes on a recycling company named Aquafil.Make better business decisionsSign up to our newsletter for a truly global perspective on the fashion industryVogue Business Recommends

TITLE: Tracing Balenciaga's History of All-Black Outfits
LINK: https://www.thecut.com/2017/03/photos-balenciaga-loeuvre-au-noir-at-the-musee-bourdelle.html
DESCRIPTION:A Balenciaga dress from 1968. Photo: Collection Palais Galliera -  Julien Vidal / Galliera / Roger-Viollet The Palais Galliera fashion museum in Paris will be paying homage to Cristbal Balenciaga  specifically the designers clever and complex use of the color black. Although vivid palettes also characterize the famed designers work, Balenciaga was heavily swayed by the folklore of his Spanish origins, from mourning dress to bullfighter costumes to monastic robes. Balenciagas mastery of volumes and technique  from the barrel line (1947) to the tunic dress (1955)  made him a pioneer, all the more evident when viewed through a monochrome lens. As Vronique Belloir, director of haute-couture collections at the Palais Galliera and curator of the show, puts it: Revisiting Balenciagas work without the distraction of color enables us to focus our gaze on the essentials, and enter into the subtlety of his materials and execution. In 1938, Harpers Bazaar in fact described Balenciaga black as almost velvety, a night without stars, which makes the ordinary black seem almost grey. The extramural exhibition Balenciaga, luvre au Noir opens March 8 at the Muse Bourdelle, with garments placed alongside works by namesake sculptor Antoine Bourdelle in the heritage space where he lived, worked, and taught until his death in 1929. The carefully preserved quarters, which encompass plaster casts, sculptures, drawings, and archival documents, underscore the sculptural nature of great fashion. This same juxtaposition worked beautifully for a 2011 exhibition highlighting the work of Madame Grs; Balenciaga too is a fitting pairing with Bourdelles oeuvre. The venue contrasts, per Belloir, Balenciagas noir versus Bourdelles ivory; light, airy, mastered fabrics versus dense, heavy, and brut materials; the feminine versus massive bodies and nudes. Moreover, Balenciagas dresses took shape on the dress form. The exhibition text declares: In many respects, couture and sculpture have similar objectives. Harmony comes from balanced proportions, movement from the choice of materials. In French, the vocabulary of the two disciplines reveals a common approach. For those whose understanding of Balenciaga begins with the recent drama of the contemporary brand  be it carryover hype
 from Gvasalias Vtements, racism accusations, or casting issues and the brands

TITLE: What does sustainable fashion actually mean?
LINK: https://www.vogue.in/fashion/content/vogues-ultimate-guide-to-sustainable-fashion
DESCRIPTION:Sustainable fashion is a term thats increasingly used (and overused, often with little to back it up) these days, as we all become ever more aware of the serious environmental impact of our clothes with the industry responsible for a shocking four to 10 per cent of global greenhouse-gas emissions every year. But what does sustainable fashion actually mean?In short, its an umbrella term for clothes that are created and consumed in a way that can be, quite literally, sustained, while protecting both the environment and those producing garments. Thats why cutting CO2 emissions, addressing overproduction, reducing pollution and waste, supporting biodiversity, and ensuring that garment workers are paid a fair wage and have safe working conditions, are all crucial to the sustainability matrix.Considering the number of factors involved, there are still too few brands out there currently tackling all of these complex issues, and even those that are will admit that theres always room for improvement. This means simply shopping for items labelled sustainable is not enough; we need to completely rethink our purchasing habits and the way we consume clothes.So, if you want to ensure your wardrobe is as sustainable as possible moving forward, heres everything you need to know. Tierney Gearon1. Buy less and buy betterIt may be a cliche, but the mantra buy less and buy better is key when you consider that a staggering 100bn garments are being produced globally every year. Before making a purchase, sustainability consultancy Eco-Ages chief brand officer Harriet Vocking advises that you ask yourself three all-important questions: What are you buying and why? What do you really need? Will you wear it at least 30 times?2. Invest in sustainable fashion brandsBuying better can also mean supporting designers who are promoting sustainable practices, including the likes of Collina Strada, Chopova Lowena and Bode, who all use upcycled textiles in their designs. Narrowing your search for specific items can also help, whether thats seeking out brands producing activewear more sustainably (such as Girlfriend Collective and Indigo Luna), swimwear (including Stay Wild Swim and Natasha Tonic) or denim (Outland Denim and Re/Done).3. Shop secondhand and vintageWith secondhand and vintage now increasingly accessible thanks to sites such as The RealReal, Vestiaire Collective and Depop, consider buying pre-loved items when looking to add to your wardrobe. Not only will you extend the life of these garments and reduce the
 environmental impact of your wardrobe as a result, you can also find one-of-a-kind pieces that no one else will own. Look to the likes of Rihanna and Bella Hadid  both vintage aficionados  for inspiration here.4. Try

TITLE: These Are the Products, Brands & Creative Directors That Defined the Last Decade
LINK: https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/the-realreal-decade-data-report/
DESCRIPTION:StyleThese Are the Products, Brands & Creative Directors That Defined the Last DecadeWith a new decade beginning, luxury consignment experts The RealReal share their resale retrospective for the previous decade. The company has taken data from millions of items sold to millions of shoppers to round up the top brands and trends in luxury resale over the past 10 years.According to The RealReal COO Rati Levesque, streetwear solidified its place in the world of luxury, while over-the-stop styles ruled the decade. It should come as little surprise that Supreme dominated the 2010s as the luxury brand with the strongest resale value, besting the likes of Herms, Louis Vuitton, and Rolex, just to name a few.While creative directors seem to come and go as quickly as trends themselves, a few in particular stood out in the 2010s for bringing added value to their respective brand. Kim Jones, for one, made Dior 5.2 times more valuable, followed by Daniel Lee at Bottega Veneta and Riccardo Tisci at Burberry. The RealReal notes that Virgil Abloh made Louis Vuitton 2.6 times more valuable, coming in just behind Tisci.Throughout the 2010s we saw constant shifts in the most popular luxury brands and a push for sustainability. This gave environmentally friendly labels such as Stella McCartney 1.5 times stronger resale value. In the retrospective, The RealReal points out that the future of shopping is sustainable.See below for some of the standout metrics from The RealReal's decade data report, including the brands with the strongest resale value, the creative directors making brands more valuable, and the top contemporary luxury brands by year.Find the full report here.Brands With Strongest Resale Value (and Their Standout Item)Brands With Fastest Growing Resale ValueCreative Directors Making Brands More ValuableTop Contemporary Luxury Brands of the Year (By Peak Resale Value)What To Read NextRapha's Brain Dead Collab Is Trippy AFStyle12 minutes agoRunning Heritage Meets Noughties Energy In The PUMA Velophasis BionicSneakers15 minutes agoWhat Does a Skater Smell Like? These 7 Perfumes for Sure4 days agoMSCHF Made Boots Fit for Astro BoySneakers1 hour ago

TITLE: Follow these simple steps to become more sustainable with your fashion
LINK: https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/fashion/what-to-wear/a41158/how-to-be-sustainable-fashion/
DESCRIPTION:Many of us are well aware of the impact we have on our planet and want to make a difference. Despite having all the good intentions, the idea of creating a sustainable or ethical wardrobe from scratch is, without doubt, a daunting one. There's the prospect of not being able to wear the brands you're used to and limiting your choices in terms of trends, not to mention having to spend a little more than you would normally.All these concerns are of course valid, but it isn't as hard as you might think to get started on a sustainable wardrobe  and it's definitively worth it in the long run. The most important thing to remember is youre making a change for good, no matter how small it will feel at the time; every step towards being a greener shopper is nothing but a positive thing. To help you along your sustainable fashion journey, weve rounded up 10 top tips from the industrys leading experts on how to create a more conscious wardrobe (without very much effort at all). Educate yourselfThe most invaluable first step to becoming a more conscious shopper is to do your research to help your decision-making. One of the most difficult things is knowing where to start  and, more importantly, where to shop. Thankfully, its now much easier than it once was; there are so many brands that operate with a sustainably-focused mind. Do your own investigative work to find a handful of brands you love and start from there. After a while, your portfolio of knowledge will have grown  and you'll have a whole host of labels to choose from. Consult our guide to the chicest sustainable brands that are working hard to carve out a greener space in the fashion industry.Agata Pospieszynska for Harper's Bazaar UKAmy Powney, creative director at sustainable label Mother of Pearl, reminds us how important it is to do your homework. "I always suggest doing a bit of research and asking questions if youre uncertain, Powney notes. Social media is such an easy way to speak quickly and directly to brands. When making such a special purchase, you want to make sure you are buying from a brand that aligns with your values."A general rule to apply when researching whether a brand is sustainable, is that if it's difficult to find its credentials, chances are they aren't as eco-friendly as they claim to be. Read up on our 'Unstitched' series, where we
 focus on a brand that knows exactly what it means to be a sustainable force for good in fashion today, spotlighting brands such as Ninety Percent, Brother Vellies, Bite Studios,

TITLE: Inhabitat | Design For a Better World!
LINK: https://inhabitat.com/
DESCRIPTION:View Gallery (2) Environment Mercury capture is now safe for humans and the environment Mercury, also known as quicksilver, is a chemical element that is naturally found in nature. However, human activity has driven it into the water and soil, creating a toxic combination for people and the planet. Recently, specialties chemical company Albemarle Corporation announced the development of a breakthrough... Bills and Laws New law bans 200,000 high emission vehicles in California View Gallery (6) Electric Vehicles A classic 1947 Chevrolet truck is transformed into an EV Do you like souped up classic cars, but want them to be an EV? Kindred Motorworks has just introduced an EV conversion of a vintage 1947 to 1953 Chevrolet 3100 pickup truck and it's a beauty. It's also not just an EV conversion of a classic pickup, but rather a hot-rodded modified chassis vehicle with modern electronics...