Balenciaga in Paris

Future is coming to the Fall of 2010. Nicolas Ghesquiere's pristine work for Balenciaga was the birthplace of all things oxymoronic. Geometric shapes and shapeless forms, dark colors and silvery light grays and whites, and contemporary and futuristic forms all strutted down the runway in this dynamic and breathtaking show. Pieces were meant to question the norms; the female form was hidden from plain sight, making us think more about where she ended and the clothing began. Similarly, Mr. Ghesquiere's incorporation of the familiar and unfamiliar was striking; we are comforted in our knowledge of clear geometric shapes depicted in the clothing but the form and structure of each piece was slightly unfamiliar, foreign and alluring. I knew this to be true when my daughter, 5, was selecting photographs with me and easily identified the shapes in each piece, as if the clothes served as reminder of a puzzle game she was obsessed with last year. I think this distinct perspective will pave the way for a more enlightened, conceptual approach to design that will undoubtedly live up to the notion of fashion forward.