Know Wear

Nicolas Ghesquière does Animal Prints for Balenciaga
Style.com

Anyone who knows me could tell you that ever since I've known of him Nicolas Ghesquière has been my favourite designer. There is something about the way he works with shape and materials that always keeps me interested. I don't ever remember being disappointed by him.

And he has done it again for FW12 but in a very different way than we're used to. His FW12 collection for Balenciaga is the most wearable we have seen from the house in seasons. The clean-cut coats, chiffon and lamé dresses and even separates such as trousers and bustier tops could go straight from the runway to the shop racks.

I was pleasantly surprised to see so many animal prints on the new collection –leopard and tiger–, which felt really refreshing and modern. I loved the asymmetrical evening dresses the most but was also very keen on the cowl-collared jackets and the kimono-inspired coats (we have seen a lot of Japanese influences this season). They were mostly quite traditional but Ghesquière also played with them in his very well known graphic, more abstract way.

The animal theme continued with one or two fur outerwear pieces and the crocodile parts used on the (amazing!) shoes and bags.