Balenciaga Crap

[quote] And don't get me started on Gucci.

We certainly won't.

But it looks like you started without us.

"Who the FUCK is buying this shit?"

Probably rappers. They've got the money and are gauche enough to wear it.

Carol Burnett made Gucci into a household word years ago with many funny references to it during her audience question and answer segment.

Drug dealers & strippers.

Justin Bieber is the 'new' face of Balenciaga, which really says it all. Any fashion house which plasters its brand on its clothes is tacky.

In recent years Gucci has become more and more popular with Millennials. Kering the owner of both Gucci and Balenciaga is steering the Balenciaga brand into the same direction with the intention of making it more appealing to the Millennial crowd. They are doing this to increase their market share and therefore profits for themselves and their investors. Just good business sense I guess, but I agree with the OP that it looks absolutely hideous.

BALENCIAAAAAAGAAAA!!

Case in point. And notice that they had to put the word BALENCIAGA on it to let folks know that it's okay to wear this shit. $1550? Fuck off.

[quote] Who the FUCK is buying this shit?

Who are wealthy Chinese and Middle Easterners?

That's correct R9. Americans and Europeans wouldn't be caught dead in them.

Thank you, Mayim. I'll take "Global Luxury Brands OP Doesn't Like" for $400, please.

FREE? Umm...no. It's $615.

It seems that most of the big designers have gone this route with the most ugly clothing ever produced and the prices are absurd.

To be fair, some of the designs are good, but it's terrible that what ever good there is has to get sullied by the shit.

A friend of mine, in the early 90s, was excited to wear a vintage Balenciaga for a photo shoot. It was magnificent. In my mind, names like Dior and Chanel and Balenciaga are pieces of beautiful clothing, made with fine fabrics and finishes, with elegant women in mind.

Now it’s ugly cheap loud crap for ugly cheap loud people.

Versayce--as much as I like the brand--has plummeted in class since Donatella told out. Versace would absolutely roll over in his grave if he saw some of the trash they've put out this year alone. But it sells, especially to the influencers and wannabe influencers.

OP I saw a popular Twitch streamer (Andy Milonakis) wearing the most hideous Balenciaga jacket...it was one of those warm up type jackets, pale pinkish purple..it looked like one of the Golden Girls would wear it, anyway it was $2000 ish BUT he probably got it free for wearing it on his stream. I was going to ask him if he bought it himself but I think they would have banned me from his room.

I wanted a pair of their sneakers a few years back. I’m so happy I didn’t get them. Balenciaga is indeed hideous, but I still keep up with all of them. Like Gucci is equally as hideous, but with a million times better materials, construction, etc. And you can’t beat a pair of classic Gucci loafers. So they’re still on point with those.

It’s fashion. All fashion is silly bullshit and should be seen as such.

I don't get why so many of you should get so triggered by couturier names on t-shirts. That really cheap stuff with "Balenciaga," "Gucci" "Dior, "Chanel," "YSL" plastered on it has been around since at least the 80s.

It was inevitable given the way late capitalism works that since those names became fetishized (particularly by fashion snobs) that people would try to sell cheap shit with those names plastered on it. It really doesn't take away from the actual achievements back in the day of Cristobal Balenciaga or Yves St. Laurent or Christian Dior or the other great couturiers.

I wonder when Chanel will start doing the ugly fashion. I know some people think that it's ugly now but it's usually tasteful, not too outrageous and excellent quality.

R5

He looks perfectly ridiculous in that picture.

Lagerfeld as well:

R18, I’m definitely one of those people.

I used to LOVE Chanel. Their shit is total junk and I can pick up a superior tweed suit from St. John or even from Zara, over the shit Chanel has been pumping out for the last decade.

Nouveau riche Chinese.

This is the REAL and original Balenciaga. Cristóbal was an elegant man.

The original Balenciaga designs were like sculptures.

Then and Now.

Im pretty fed up with the Frida Kahlo idolization too. The unibrowed cunt was a Communist, her "art" sucked, she was a drunk and drug addicted slut, but she's enshrined to young girls as a fucking role model.

The one thing I still see wealthy tasteful women (on the UES) wearing are the Chanel ballet flats.

What does that have to do with the topic of this thread, r26? Frida Kahlo was not a couturier.

You might as well start complaining about the idolization of Marilyn Monroe or Eleanor Roosevelt while you're at it.

I'll tell you who's buying this junk: the Vegas crowd from Middle America and Asian shoppers. They are lined-up outside the Gucci outlet in nearby Cabazon, CA every day. Oh for the day of a small gator or polo pony on a shirt. The names and logos are bigger and occupy more cloth real estate than ever. As loud as Ethel Merman (don't come at me Ethel queens, I'm one of her fans).

when I was a kid in paris, I saw how the parisians made fun of the american and other tourists who would buy Chanel and co. My upper class friends would take their grandmothers' Chanel bags at costume balls, for the ridicule. Nobody would have been caught dead wearing Gucci and prada, it was tackier than tacky. Real parisian elite have their taylor, who made their clothes for them. You don't advertise for designers by wearing their names if you're chic, you will rather have YOUR name (monogram) on their pieces. Birkin always says that when they give her a new Birkin bag, she immediately damages it and puts stickers on it. she carries them like that, ironically

Reza Farahan (Gucci Guy)

a lesson in style by the last fashion icon, #eating crisps on a parisian bench, in a tailor made suite

Chinamen buy Gucci. It looks like Eurotrash is the largest market for Balenciaga.

I always conflate balenciaga and Schiaparelli, for some reason. My mother used "Ho-hang" it's a male perfume, but my mother is a feminist and she wanted to break the rules. all her firends used Shalimar

Any last words?

R33 That pie chart doesn't mean much.

Go to the Gucci flagship store in Milan and it's all Chinese, Japanese, Koreans etc. buying things. Same for other international cities.

Been there, done that, r35.

Did you know that ISABELLE hUPPERT is the great granddaughter of the SOEURS CALLOT one of the leading fashion houses of the early XX century ?

Isabelle interview (in french) about her fabulous great grandmother

The store on Madison Ave was robbed a couple of times.

They were famous for their handbags years ago....

[quote]Carol Burnett made Gucci into a household word years ago.

Yeah, that was it.

The people who wear this shit with the designer's name emblazoned on it would probably start tattooing 'I'M HOT' on their fucking face, if a few 'influencers' did it.

[quote]one of the leading fashion houses of the early XX century ?

I bet you think that makes you look chic.

R44 = Marisa Berenson

I loved my mom's Gucci bag with the bamboo handle.

Now here's a Gucci bag from 2021

[quote] I bet you think that makes you look chic.

yes you fat whore it does, knowing Soeurs Callot makes ME chic and you're still short, fat and awful. bog off this board you useless unfuckable fag hag, no one wants you here

R47 The classic bamboo handle bags are still made.

God, looking at the pic in R24 really makes me sad. How does a company go from something that beautiful to what's exhibited now? And it's every designer. Whatever happened to wearing nice clothes and just having the, recognized by people who knew the designs themselves? The stuff in the Bieber link looks just ghastly.

At NYU all the Asian kids from China wore Balenciaga. They wore Balenciaga everything.

The big problem is that all these fashion houses were originally known for intricate, beautiful gowns and structured suits - things that young people just don't wear anymore. That gimmicky shit is rubbish but it sells like crazy to Asians. I've also noticed that wealthy people do not dress like wealthy people of yore. Look at Mark Zuckerberg or Bill Gates. They look and dress like high street shoppers, not like JFK in his prime. Also, the decline in quality of high-end brands has meant that it's harder to justify spending thousands on clothes are essentially no better than what you can buy much cheaper. I used to buy expensive business shirts and suits back in the day, but over the years I've found even the most expensive ones are just not worth it and have to be replaced within a year or two. My business shirts come from outlets stores and Target now and I don't notice any difference from the ones that cost 5x as much.

Same with expensive cars. Modern Lamborghinis are incredibly ugly, yet somehow highly desirable.

R8 the destroyed sweatshirt is fun. It's for young fashionistas with money to burn. Much of designer fashion - luxury designer fashion at these prices - is not for YOU or me. It is for fashion people who are delighted to buy it and the money spent doesn't hurt them.

I know the shopping habits of the Gulf super-rich, for one such clientele. It's a PLEAURE to them to consume luxury commodities. They have allowances - there is NO financial hardship involved. No longing. Buy it, wear for its brief moment of fashion value, then discard it.

If they are also interested in elegance - getting a classically tailored suit or gown - they buy that TOO. It's not an either or. They can have everything.

These products are NOT for you. And you are an idiot or disingenuous, and certainly not original, to be appalled at ridiculous trendy fashion. This is a story as old as time.

You can all shut up about Balenciaga and Gucci.

Yes, they churn out clown college collections, but both also make wonderful shoes for men that are the perfect weight without logos plastered everywhere.

My problem with “avant-garde” Designer Fashion is that it seems to be forever stuck in a cyber-punk/Hip-Hop-streetwear/post-apocaliptic 80s period. I saw he same type of gaudy stuff in the mid 80s at Harrods. You’d think that at some point people would tire of that. Although I see more and more people f.i. ditching trainers for loafers.

Well that's a valid point R56. But avant-garde fashion from a house capable of extreme refinement is mostly going to go to trash and destroy for the shock. Thus my posting of Lucy and Ethel in their potato sacks. Which of course the fashionistas and fashion houses immediately turn out the next day as fashion.

Once high fashion was trashed and then deconstructed and then all eras could be revived at any time, so the 80s and 90s work, fashion had reach end game. There isn't going to be anything new for awhile, and one can can always to a classic tailor if one wants elegant refinement.

Christian LaCroix

Also, outside the logo bullshit the designs are strong enough to survive fads.

Like Issey Miyake, Balenciaga provides clothing that works eight years after purchase because the cut and fabric work outside of trends. Etro used to do this before jumping on the low rise/untucked bandwagon. I still haven't forgiven them.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

China is now where the big bucks are for fashion houses. And unfortunately, Chinese customers love loud, brassy, tacky fashion. Huge logos, sparkles everywhere, strong colours. That’s what they want. And that’s what the fashion houses produce. I have a friend who’s a buyer for a Paris-based multinational, multi-brand high-fashion retailer, with a lot of stores in China. Whenever she goes to the collections in Paris and Milan, she tells me she buys everything she hates because she knows it will sell well over there.

r61, 100% agree with you. The big fashion houses are now making clothes for the Asian/Middle East market. Their biggest clients are not European or American anymore, times have changed.

My main issue with luxury fashion nowadays is that the quality is often not there anymore. I have a vintage YSL coat which is still in top condition, the quality is amazing. The Saint Laurent jacket I bought four years ago is already falling apart.

Also the "Made in Italy" label has become a joke.

I bought a pair Balenciaga sneakers last year for $10 in excellent condition at a Goodwill and could have sold them on EBay but when the cleaning lady saw them she got so excited I just gave them to her. Now she’s prancing around Washington Heights in them. Happy I could make her happy. I don’t understand why people would be willing to spend their money on such ordinary crap.

Kathleen Madigan has a standup bit about the Chinese ripping off designers.

DLer displaying what is Datalounge high fashion. Who needs Gucci.

[quote]yes you fat whore it does, knowing Soeurs Callot makes ME chic and you're still short, fat and awful. bog off this board you useless unfuckable fag hag, no one wants you here.

Well, I guess I've been put in my place. Bwahahahahahahahahaha.

Wanker.

Have any of you looked at their last few shows? They’re doing some very interesting clothes, I like the Eastern European influence they have at the moment too. The accented shoulders and hips in the suits are a nice change from your basic men’s suit, and the sportswear is pretty cool too. Demna has created a new identity for the brand, and while it might not be to anyone’s taste it’s a bit redundant to call it ‘crap’.

There were a few amazing looks at the end of this show for instance.

Ewwwww^^^

Have you guys seen Diesel products lately?

R69 love the new diesel.

R70 Are you a blind person?

R71 no but I have an interest in and knowledge of contemporary fashion. Naive of me to expect more from this site, a bunch of outsiders that are so excited by what Tom Ford is doing at Gucci! Lol

R72 So you find this a good looking t shirt?

R72 Or this?

I was thinking more on the lines of this Diesel.

No R74 not a fan of either.

"These products are NOT for you. And you are an idiot or disingenuous, and certainly not original, to be appalled at ridiculous trendy fashion. This is a story as old as time."

No, r54, they're not for me. I have taste and intelligence. I do have money to spend on clothes, and while most of my wardrobe is reasonably priced items, I've got a bunch of high end stuff as well; tasteful, well-designed and well manufactured pieces such as Brioni, Zegna, Ford, Armani, Ferragamo and Corneliani. I wouldn't be caught fucking dead in a god damned shirt with BALENCIAGA on it.

Raising the waist doesn't require padding the shoulders. Plus, they're hiding the waist on all the fall21 couture so you can't see the higher waist or any of the pleats.

I don't like pants that eat my shoes. I'm only 5'5"; I'd look like I borrowed a grownup's pants.

[quote] Brioni, Zegna, Ford, Armani, Ferragamo and Corneliani.

What a waste of money. None of those (except for Armani (Altho I doubt you have any of his interesting stuff)) are fashion, they’re just clothes. You honestly may as well shop at Zara. Spare me the “well made, fine fabrics” heritage delusion too. There’s no design.

I'll be sure to remember that when I'm complimented on my style, r79, and when I'm wearing something bought in 2019 in 2029. Enjoy your Zara!

You live that Miss Havisham fantasy r80 :) send Estella down.

Oh jesus Zegna 🤡

Dolce & Gabbana runway models stand their ground in Venice!

Their stuff got ugly and cheap looking in the last three or four years. I bought a pair of prescription sunglasses about eight years ago and they are nice. I don’t know what happened to their esthetic. It is hideous now!

LOL...there's a lot of silly old queens on this thread gassing on about "YOUR fashion is AWFUL but MY fashion is FABULOUS!!!!"

Also: Tom Ford hasn't been at Gucci since 2004. Or, was that the joke you were trying to make?

It didn't read well.

Now, I'm going to go to my closet and pull out my DIVINE new Jil Sander white trenchcoat I really haven't worn yet because it needs to be cooler and parade up and down my living room looking STYLISH and CHIC while sipping COCKTAILS from a GLASS!!!!!

Zara rules, you pricks

The outfit: A pair of Levi’s and a plain white tee shirt.

Depending on many different things, that outfit can look sexy or stylish or terrible. Adding a designer logo or label doesn’t really make anyone look better. If you have that “it” quality, you can make anything interesting. Sometimes I’ll see a girl on the street who’s thrown her cheap clothing together in such a way that it works charmingly.

But there is absolutely NOTHING you can do about cheap shoes. N o t h i n g.

^ Hannibal Lecter.

[quote] Also the "Made in Italy" label has become a joke.

How so?

I think it’s mainly rich eastern Europeans and middle easterners who buy it. They aren’t known for their hood taste. Also Russian hookers who are not necessarily rich.

Only dumb cunts shop at Zara and they can't afford the real thing so they settle for knock offs. Always invest in quality pieces that will last you for a long time.

just go to chinatown and nobody will even notice it's fake.

Hey I like Zara!

Lasting a long time isn’t relevant to millennials / Gen Z. We want cheap stuff we won’t get caught wearing 3 times on Instagram or wherever.

r88, most of the Italian fashion house source materials and manufacture in China or Asia (excluding Japan which actually produces high quality material), but have their products sewn in Italian factories by Asian immigrants and slap a Made in Italy tag on it, because legally they can.

[quote]most of the Italian fashion house source materials and manufacture in China or Asia

That is not true.

The high end Italian brand suits and so forth are made in Italy.

They're chasing a new consumer? I'm sure I've seen a few articles about this thing. How esteemed luxury brands are just slapping logos on any trashy shit these days. Hmm.. here's one. Ok, you could look to streetwear to blame..

[quote] “Luxury brands would look so far down on this 20 years ago,” said Andrew Raisman, the CEO of sneaker and streetwear app Copdate. “Now today, the people who shop at Chanel on Rodeo Drive feel just as validated in an Off-White long sleeve. There’s no more division between luxury and streetwear.”

"merch" is everywhere in general. One recent surge was all your favorite restaurants selling t shirts in the early days of the pandemic. Why there's a t shirt for 1/2 the things in your cupboards.

I'm thinking of this article about all the NYC merch

R90 What a dumb moron cunt. Yes, people should waste their salaries on something as unimportant as a fucking t-shirt or a jacket. And who is a Zara ripping off exactly? I have stuff from Zara for years that shows no signs of wear. You sound like an idiot who thinks that you need to waste a fortune on a clothes for them not to fall apart after a decade. What a shallow brand whore. Let people wear what they want and what they can afford. Some people have more important things to spend their money on, than fucking clothes.

Balenciaga blows

The high end stuff is still being made in France and Italy. Clothes, shoes, handbags.

I'm happier to see those things being sold than the disposable Chinese slave labour crap that most of us can afford..

Now Balenciaga is in trouble because its imitation ghetto wear (in this case, sweat pants with boxers woven in so that the tops of the boxers show), going for $1,190, are being called "racist" by academics for their "cultural appropriation."

You cannot make this stuff up.

Oh, that’s hilarious, r101. What I find interesting is that this has been a thing for decades already. It’s almost a “classic” look!

Thank you, r93, for dropping the science. This "migrant labor" traveling back and forth to China is the actual reason that Italy became a death zone in the early days of the pandemic.

Also, if this meta-subject interests you, read [italic]Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster [italic]by Dana Thomas. It came out in 2007, but it's still highly relevant. It's a wonderful dissection of how market forces, assisted by the fashion industry itself, inevitably drove couture into the dust.

There was also an extensive piece in the NYT back in 2020 (which I, of course, forgot to save to my reading list) that covered the vast number of problems labels now face. Just a few: private equity firms controlling smaller houses and labels, and then treating them as currency in hopes of being purchased by LVMH or another conglomerate; non-stop pressure to show collections; the near impossibility of buying (pre-season) the correct fabrics in large-enough quantities from Chinese mills; blah, blah, blah.

Oops. Looks like I didn't close my tag. Sorry about that.

[quote]Thank you, [R93], for dropping the science. This "migrant labor" traveling back and forth to China is the actual reason that Italy became a death zone in the early days of the pandemic.

Bullshit.

There is absolutely no evidence of that.

What the hell is this shit?

Hawt = JUICY slapped over fat asses!

Dear r105, it was discussed in the Italian press, in the NYT, and in a Seth Doane segment on CBS Sunday Morning.

R108

Bud, I actually read the Italian press. Please post any evidence for your claim.

The truth is the city of Prato (ever heard of it?) actually had a LOWER incidence of Covid.

Also, many of these lux companies known for great quality, once taken over by LVMH or some other big company, their quality went down the toilet.

Rimowa for example, our family has used this for over 30 years and when it was taken over by LVMH, quality went to shit.

The big names still make high quality clothes.

A top of the line Armani or Chanel suit is as well made as always.

I went into Marshall’s today and I saw a Rack of Balenciaga T-shirts.

Chanel's purses and handbags has gone down in quality big time but they keep increasing the prices.

R113 Exactly in what way have they gone down in quality?

R112 which Marshall’s?

I still have some old samsonite hard case suitcases and they are much better quality. the shit most companies make today are just terrible and cost so much, fucking ridiculous.

I do not like the zipper suitcases, they are gonna rip. I prefer the clam style ones but they are hard to find.

I prefer these fashions.

And these.

Suitcase zipper pulls tend to disappear quickly.

Balenciaga has now gone to tacky streetwear when they used to be more refined. This belongs in the thread of labels that now feel less coveted and more ghetto.