Balenciaga's show of unconventional drama in Paris serves to confirm Demna Gvasalia's position among the most cherished designers in fashion

Kim Kardashian was among the front row guests at Gvasalia's sophomore show for Balenciaga
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Karen Dacre11 October 2016

As guests took their seats at Demna Gvasalia's sophomore womenswear show for Balenciaga today, the proof that in their ranks was a designer who had already made his mark on the fashion world was everywhere.

Sporting the same off-shoulder trench coats and angular sculpted skirt suits which formed the Georgian's debut for the house, Gvasalia's rapidly increasing fan base stood as proof that Balenciaga's man at the top is among the most cherished - and copied - in fashion right now.

Such influence also served as evidence that Kering boss Francoise Pinault had played a recruitment blinder in enlisting Gvasalia, the brains behind of-the-moment design collective Vetements, to invigorate the storied Balenciaga brand.

His latest collection, an offering which saw Spandex, latex trench coats with exaggerated shoulders and moroccan pouff bags combine, oozed with a sense of freshness that Cristobal Balenciaga would have undoubtedly found both intriguing and appealing.

Swan Gallet/WWD/Rex

The Spanish couturier was renowned for his ability to bring the best out of all types of woman, and this collection was the latest interpretation of that with Gvasalia's trademark cast of models, stylists and party kids taking a turn on the catwalk in clothes which had a firm rooting in the realities of the 21st Century.

This isn't to say that this was in any way easy on the eye - at least not in the conventional sense.

Gvasalia is a master in creating drama and with strange models and haunting silhouettes. Accordingly, highlights today came from sinister rubber capes and angular boots with square toes. This was one part Eighties power dresser - pussy bow blouses crafted in Spandex and oversized shirting was a recurring theme - and another otherworldly super force with models sporting spiked neon fingers nails and spandex thigh high boots.

Swan Gallet/WWD/Rex

Backstage Gvasalia cited "a new sensibility" as his starting point, adding "I was inspired by the parallel between couture and fetishism".

Ruffle mini-skirts, printed in block colours of violet or splayed with floral motifs, served as proof of this with Gvasalia looking to Spandex, a fabric invented during Balenciaga's heyday, to heighten the sense of severity at work within the Balenciaga woman. He also pioneered his latest take on the shoulder - a favourite erogenous zone of Balenciaga's - with a sleek silhouette which ended with a knife sharp summit.

Already winning favour for his thoroughly contemporary approach, Gvasalia's Balenciaga is one that takes its lead from subcultures forged in Berlin nightclubs and on the Instagram feeds of the Euro kids that are his primary source of inspiration.

Swan Gallet/WWD/Rex

This collection was their wardrobes, repurposed in luxury through precision cutting and luxurious textiles. There was also plenty on offer with which to delight the Balenciaga fan next season.

Floral dresses inspired by vintage swimwear prints echoed those which have come to define the Vetements label were among the most commercial on the catwalk today while one supersized orange body warmer is poised to delight the many street style stars who are taking delight in Gvasalia's determination to raise a smile with his clothes.

It is this ability to play, to experiment, to have fun with fashion that has ensured Gvasalia's position as the leader of a new self-deprecating but simultaneously intelligent new movement occupying fashion.

While historically designers have considered streetwear and the clothes worn by kids in clubs to be an insignificance, they are Gvasalia's everything. The show's soundtrack, featuring everything from George Michael's Careless Whisper to Dolly Parton's I will always love you, served as an embodiment of this approach. "I chose it to make everyone happy" said the designer, "people smiling in fashion is the new black".

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