PARIS — Elegant minimalism, sculptural tailoring and stiff fabrications -- that's what is driving fashion forward for fall.
Nicolas Ghesquiere's collection for Balenciaga has become such a bellwether, it's impossible to know what's going on for the season before you see it. And it was a wake-up call all right, breathing life into a four-city show cycle that until now was practically lifeless.
Reviving old labels is still the fashion business formula, and Ghesquiere -- more than any other young designer -- has taken a rusted old house and made it his own. His latest collection brought the history and tradition of French couture to a new generation with intergalactic silhouettes and stiff, sports-inspired materials.
What a far cry it was from John Galliano's 1960s snooze at Dior. This was modern-day power dressing.
I like to imagine Ghesquiere's atelier as a special-effects studio where he's in protective goggles with a blowtorch, molding fabric like fiberglass into sculptural plates, then assembling them like armor on dress forms to create the most wondrous garments.
Ghesquiere designs a piece of clothing as he would an object, a car even. Each look makes you think, "How did he do that?" That's the mark of a true artist. The elegant little black dresses that opened the show were simply spectacular with sculpted bodices, stiff peplums and crossover skirts, slit up the leg.
He used the same sculptural approach on patent coats, molded through the chests like superhero costumes, and three-quarter-sleeve tops worn with black leggings accented with white or shadowy print insets.
Then he turned his attention to draping, creating sleeveless silk and satin tops in vibrant shades of yellow, red and blue, wrapped by a modern-day Madame Gres. How great would they look with a pair of black trousers at an evening party? Much more modern than a gown. The finale pieces really were works of art -- neoprene dresses and coats that were perfect canvases for Japanese landscape scenes and trompe l'oeil samurai armor.
Veiled shoe boots with sharp points jutting out of jeweled heels were exceptional in a season where over-the-top shoes and bags have been noticeably absent from the runways. Sensing that the market has neared saturation -- or perhaps that in this economy, women might be inclined to pass on the one-season, $2,000 bag -- designers have at last moved the focus to clothes. Because we might not need new handbags, but we always need to get dressed.
