The lowly sweater is no longer an everyday wardrobe staple but an exclusive fashion must-have thanks to Alexander Wang who unveiled a collection inspired entirely by the humble knit at Paris Fashion Week this morning.
Unveiling his third collection for prestigious French fashion Balenciaga, New York-based Wang confirmed a place for himself as one of Paris's most significant fashion players with a masterful showcase for which knitwear served as a huge source of inspiration.
"I realised there was an absence of knitwear in Cristobal's [Balenciaga] vocabulary" said Wang, speaking after the show, "I wanted to experiment with all aspects of it".
For the collection on offer today, this meant so much more than a load of old jumpers with plastic parka's embossed with cable-knit motifs, shrugs sprayed with crystal beading and sawn of roll-necks in the softest angora and cashmere among this collection's many high-points.
Wang, who dedicated the early part of his career to designing knitwear, showboated his skills for creating clothes which ooze with touchable appeal. Lattice dresses inset with panels of buffed-leather, sculpted parkas trimmed with fur pockets and oversized roll neck pockets were among the show's most tactile additions and seemed to be Wang's way of firmly stamping his own identity onto the the French fashion house which recruited him for its top job just over a year ago.
Keen to strike a balance between his own design aesthetic and that of the Balenciaga legacy, the house's signature silhouette was adhered to throughout. Voluminous coats in micro leopard print featured smooth mushroom shoulders while an asymmetric hemline featured on expertly tailored skirts. Heavy-duty zips, used as seams on shift dresses and trousers gave this collection the conceptual edge that is essential to any Balenciaga collection. Wang also attempted to revive the long forgotten boot-cut trouser shape with versions in charcoal herringbone print, sludge green and black.
Wang has form when it comes to pioneering trends that translate to cold hard cash in the till- his eponymous brand is worth a mighty £15 million - making him an inviting proposition for luxury conglomerate Kering (formerly PPR) who recruited him to help revive interest in the prestigious Balenciaga brand.
Keen to live up to expectation, next season Wang will attempt to lure customers from all corners of the globe into stores with a vast accessory remit that is so vast many models on the catwalk today carried three bags at once. "I want everyone to come and shop at Balenciaga" said Wang of the croc and patent trimmed box shoppers which form this basis to his latest accessory remit. The designer also unveiled a beautifully crafted angular heeled court shoe that looks set to become a key money-spinner for the brand.
Wang is the toast of Paris today but next week all eyes will be on his predecessor Nicolas Ghesquière who debuts his first collection for Louis Vuitton on Wednesday. Ghesquière who enjoyed a 15 year stint at Balenciaga, replaces Marc Jacobs who exited the luxury giant in October.
