Paris Fashion Week Spring 2014: Balenciaga, Rick Owens

[ Images via WWD.com]

The Theme: Classic House, New Shapes

The Color Palette: Black, white pink, and blue

The Collection’s Signature, Standout Look: For Alexander Wang’s sophomore collection at Balenciaga, Wang aimed to take some of the house’s classic ideas and “inject them with a sense of ease.” With that idea in mind, Wang presented an innovative collection that introduced some new shapes into the house’s structural canon. A series of high-waisted pants that featured a peplum curving over the hips paired with a white cape-backed silk top showed the house’s experimentation with new forms for classic staples. With this collection, Alexander Wang has continued on his mission to develop and evolve the storied house of Balenciaga for the modern world.

The Show: Rick Owens

The Theme: Athletic Clothes for Every Woman

The Color Palette: Black, White, Tan

The Collection’s Signature, Standout Look: One of the most talked about shows of the season, Rick Owens presented a collection that broke with any idea of what conventional feminine beauty is or should be. Throwing tradition to the wind, the collection was presented by six college step teams that featured women of all shapes, sizes and color performing an aggressive step routine. The structured movements of the dance routine reflected the equally structured forms of the clothes each women wore. Monochrome ensembles were draped and layered with details of lacing, slitting and zipping incorporated into the looks to allow for maximum freedom of movement. To reinforce the collection’s athletic tone, each dancer wore sneakers from Rick Owens’ Adidas collaboration; the better to stomp the yard with.