While haute couture lovers awaited the Fall 2018 season, Balenciaga delivered a blend of relaxed and flowy silhouettes to ease their wait. Showcased in a brightly-lit dressing room, the Pre-Fall 2018 collection features hit and miss pieces between its seasonal staples and offbeat patterns. If consumers learn nothing else, Balenciaga wants them to know layers are essential.
A prominent look among the collection compiles a plaid blanket-like coat and a leather jacket over a plaid collared shirt and skirt combo. I had to put my pride aside and ignore the blatant plaid on plaid on plaid crime. However, the way the blanket-coat gently drags along the floor evokes a style that can only be described as “homeless chic.” Underneath, a skirt with a below-the-knee asymmetrical hemline is reminiscent of everyone’s favorite basket case from The Breakfast Club. Similar combinations feature long plaid pants and combinations of skirts and jackets creating narrow but full silhouettes. These are just a bit too homey for my taste, but fashion isn’t all about the form-fitting.
Models are draped in colorful shredded shawls in an outstanding look. The eye-popping outerwear stands out from the relatively muted colors of the rest of the line, but is still perfectly suited for fall. They bunch around the arms creating a full top.
In a take on businesswear, long, straight-cut suit jackets join matching pants in an effortless set. A slightly more flared jacket with a metallic streak across the front adds just enough energy to a classic garment. Red and brown plaid masquerades as maroon, a fall favorite hue, in a two-piece suit as well as other tasteful business garments. Who are we to complain?
Perhaps most out of place are the dresses, mostly floral and vibrant. While the rest of the collection looks ahead with its heavier fabrics and subdued patterns, the bright prints are stuck in spring. As styled with the collection’s signature accessories, they try too hard to make the transition into their own mismatched season.
Each ensemble is notably paired with a duo of tights and low, pointed boots in variations of stripes and plaid. The shoes themselves are reminiscent of beloved “pantashoes” popularized in 2017. Accompanying logo bags stand out as some of the few solid-colored pieces.
Les Facons rather accurately credited the 2018 collection with blurring the lines of streetwear, normcore, and high fashion, though “normcore” admittedly isn’t the first concept that comes to mind. Vogue critic Sarah Mower suggested that it was boring, but “perhaps it’s time for boring to be interesting again.”
Despite some missteps, it ultimately delivers on what one should expect from a Pre-Fall line: practical and cozy with a high-end edge. What many see as boring in its take on businesswear may easily be described as timeless. Balenciaga prepared its customers well for the coming cold in elongated, smooth apparel.
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