BALENCIAGA by Nicholas Ghesquiere

It appears to me that this season, more than any other, one is in need of a doctorate in philosophy in order to write a review on many of the current Fall collections. Somewhere there is a university that has graduates who are able to expound on the philosophical design aspects of a collection yet never consider the salability or wearability of any items or maybe there is a debriefing process that one must attend before the shows. Oh yeah and they never really give an opinion, they seem to avoid that at all costs, especially if the review sounds scholarly and knowledgeable except here is a new flash …..these are clothes, this is not a cure for cancer, this is not solving the issue of global warming and new seasonal collections should be reviewed within the parameters of the apparel business and not on some existential theory of beauty!
With all that said, who can say that Balenciaga is beautiful? Yes I think that Mr. Ghesquiere is fabulously talented, yes I believe he raises the bar on the technology that is involved in fashion but there is way way too much blah, blah, blah involved. The collection as a whole is relatively ugly, relatively ungainly and most certainly unbecoming. Why are people raving about collections which are much less than the words would imply. If the media and goddesses of editorial are in such need of stars, why can’t they find one who has some validity? Part of it appears to be that editorials are no longer photographed in a straight forward manner in which you might see the article of clothing which culminates in a sometimes totally unrecognizable image. These clothes will fit right in since anyone who can afford or dares to wear these concoctions will be met with shaking heads and quizzical expressions.
So, yes the collection is directional, I guess, and it certainly tears a page from the Prada Marni book of unattractive and maybe this is the heroin that true fashion addicts/victims crave on a seasonal basis. It is hard to believe that I stand alone with these observations and I really must question how anyone who unequivocally raves about these blah, blah, blah collections. Tell me that reviewers really understand what they see or are they just pawns of the advertising dollar and pandering to the tabloid mentality that has invaded all forms of the media.