INTRODUCTION
I have selected BALENCIAGA for the brand audit assessment.
Balenciaga in my eye is quite a elegant brand for upper class. Although it didn't make haute couture anymore. The ready-to-wear collectons are still stunning to me. I especially love the silhouettes of Balenciaga clothings.
I would like to use this paragraph to conclude the history of Balenciaga.
"1937-1968, when Cristobal Balenciaga made his name during Paris's golden age of fashion; and 1996-2006, charting the dramatic revival of the House of Balenciaga under Nicolas Ghesquière, one of the most widely admired and celebrated new designers in contemporary fashion."
COLOR PREFERENCE
“Be natural, in order that everything may truly come from within you.” Cristobal Balenciaga
I think that might be one of the reasons affecting Cristobal Balenciaga on using color on his designs. Monochromatic, analogous and achromatic color schemes are mostly used. And so as Nicolas Ghesquière. He is always being metioned that he can make Cristobal Balenciaga's design into something new yet keep the brand original style. And what i discovered in this project is, despite the style, cutting, etc. The color system they used are quite similar. They both love using mono-chromatic and analogous colors on an outfit.
However, it's not always true in nicolas's design. And i will further explain it in next section.
BRAND COLOR
Black, grey and white, the netural gray, are definitely used by nicolas in every season. But i think that the brand color of BALENCIAGA is not that simple.
Nicolas likes using tint, tone and shade colors. It's rare to see high chroma in his designs. Except that, he sometimes would like to use high intensity color in a very low proportion to highlight the outfit. Otherwise, mono-chromatic, analogous and achromatic color schemes are the most commonly used.
His theory of using high intensity colors is selecting the complementary or split complementary colors of the main color of the outfits. Or just matching with black and white. But note that, the proportion of it may just a binding of hem finishing or something very minor.
COLOR TREND PREDICTION FOR 2009 F/W
After the trend of Bohemia in 2009 Spring, colors expressing exoticism is still in trend. Due the the Fall and Winter, the color may have some variation. Hues in lower chroma will definitely give a warm feeling. That's what "Silent Agitations"- warm and lightened neutrals interplay, in ambiguously multi-colored tone-on-tone, with deliciously tinted suaves.
INSPIRATION FOR MY COLLECTION
Sculpture structured clothing must be a hit. I want to create great volume on my outfits in 3-D dimesion. At the same time, keep the "nutcracker style" which match the feeling of fall/winter clothings. Army look is always popular in winter.
COLOR FAMILY FOR MY COLLECTION
Beside the brand colors of Balenciaga, I will use deep red (PANTONE 1807 C), beige (PANTONE 7402 C) and turquoise (PANTONE 345 C) that can help making complementary or split complementary color combination. And these three hues are in low chroma that match BALENCIAGA style.
