“When I first started at this house, I told myself that it had closed in ‘68 a symbolic date of revolution, of rupture. I was 25 years old, I had a viewpoint, the future was not already the past… so I started a fire. The first collection was black, white and grey. I wanted to let them know that there was no joking at Balenciaga. It was very formatted, the models measured 1m 76 not one centimeter smaller. In order for the message to be strong - I needed an army.”
Nicolas Ghesquière to Elisabeth Quin on his initial aims for Balenciaga and his debut collection (Spring 1998), April 2007
Hedvig Palm, Mackenzie Drazan, and Elena Bartels in Balenciaga FW/12 photographed by Steven Meisel for Vogue Italia July 2012
Balenciaga s/s 2003