Balenciaga Men's FW11 - Paris

[Shucks]

i know this probably won't get much love here (except maybe from jogu?) but since the women's collection is posted and i'm all for gender equality... also i've always had a soft spot for balenciaga's quirky, preppy and structured tailoring.

[Shucks]

[edhohoho]

I like a lot of the jackets but the pants and the steel-capped shoes are not very flattering. The tailoring of the jackets is really nice.

[ES3K]

Well, I love Balenciaga, but this is too much of this schoolboy thing, I miss sharp suits. Steel cap shoes are horrible.

When I think of how innovative Balenciaga menswear used to be, they showed in FW07 what Balmain did 3 years later:



Or the sharp tailoring in FW09:

[Pumpfish]

Very hard to judge from just front shots. Can't really see the cut when jackets are left open. And cut tended to be what Balenciaga did best.

[Shucks]

Well, I love Balenciaga, but this is too much of this schoolboy thing, I miss sharp suits. Steel cap shoes are horrible.

When I think of how innovative Balenciaga menswear used to be, they showed in FW07 what Balmain did 3 years later:

yeah those two seasons are two beautiful collections. but balenciaga is really about the nitty gritty details, and those are just best appreciated in person, not from look books - i'm with mona on that (as discussed in the women's thread). for menswear ghesquière seems to enjoy alternating between quite preppy 'wearable' collections and some fucking extra-terrestial starship alien pod cocoon-shaped stuff and that mix is usually also in each collection somewhere. balenciaga mostly only shows a small selection of the menswear and there are usually really interesting 'show-pieces' in store that were never shown.

[ES3K]

Interesting, I wasn't really aware of this pattern, but now when I think about it-- seems you're right. And I agree that Balenciaga is much more than the few lookbook pictures suggest.

[birdytg]

Agree with several things read here:
- they are beautiful pieces in stores which are not shown on lookbook, and sometimes much more interesting
- Balenciaga is great quality and fine details
Meanwhile this collection is for me a lot under previous collections...
like most other collections during fashion week...

[neonrider]

i'm a ghesquiere fan, but +1 for this being a strange and less than compelling collection. the in-store pieces are likely to be nicer, but this feels poorly thought out and incoherent.