With The World On Her Shoulders

A fiduciary-focused businesswoman intent on wowing the opposition with a modern mode? We can think of a no more liberating look than the seriously strong silhouettes seen in the latest line from Balenciaga. An extension of a theme Creative Director Gvasalia has played with since assuming his lofty role, he ditched the conventional stuffed shoulder pad for sturdier scaffolding, reinforcing his trench coats and boxy jackets with whalebone-style rods. The effect is domineering, and exactly what we expect from a powerhouse who’s built his career around playfully permuting proportion. Ideal for the polemic period we find ourselves in, Balenciaga has murdered the mousy ideal of womanhood, giving their models the rolling shoulders and singular focus of a predator on the pounce. Also of note in this already iconic collection? The slinky, sensual utilization of Spandex, a material long anathema to the aesthetic industry, and a creative counterpoint to the rigid upper silhouettes of most of the collection; Balenciaga.com.