Fastening Details at Balenciaga

Fastening Details at Balenciaga

Fastening Details at Balenciaga | The Cutting Class. Balenciaga, PF15, Paris.

Balenciaga, PF15, Paris.

For the Autumn-Winter 2015 pre-collection at Balenciaga, many of the designs seemed to be engineered around the fastening details, with patterns cut in proportion to giant buttons and snap fastenings doubling up as embellishment.

Many of the large buttons were metallic, and these were often used to punctuate monochrome looks. Many of the buttons were also covered buttons, and these were often paired with bound buttonholes. This helps to create a seamless colour effect since you are able to use self fabric to cover the buttons, and to create the welts on the bound buttons as well.

Another interesting detail to note was the stripes of contrast colour on a couple of the tailored pieces. These seem as though they may have been created by felting a section of the garment, (afterall, we’ve seen creative director Alexander Wang use felting in the pastĀ»), or possibly this effect was created with a thick smear of pearlescent screen printing pigment.

Update: It appears that this striped effect is actually a special use of jacquard weaving techniques. While many fabrics that are commonly referred to as “jacquard” have a repetitive pattern, it appears that in this case the jacquard technique has been used to simply create single stripes during the weaving process, and it appears that a yarn with a definite sheen has been used to contrast against the dominant matt and camel-coloured yarn.

Fastening Details at Balenciaga | The Cutting Class. Balenciaga, PF15, Paris, Image 1. Giant covered buttons with bound buttonholes.

Fastening Details at Balenciaga | The Cutting Class. Balenciaga, PF15, Paris, Image 2. Smudged line effect appears to be felted...

Fastening Details at Balenciaga | The Cutting Class. Balenciaga, PF15, Paris, Image 3. Or could be created with smeared pearlescent pigment.

Fastening Details at Balenciaga | The Cutting Class. Balenciaga, PF15, Paris, Image 4. Additional buttons appear to hold down pocket flaps.

Fastening Details at Balenciaga | The Cutting Class. Balenciaga, PF15, Paris, Image 5. T-shirt silhouette redone in furry fabric.

Fastening Details at Balenciaga | The Cutting Class. Balenciaga, PF15, Paris, Image 6.

Fastening Details at Balenciaga | The Cutting Class. Balenciaga, PF15, Paris, Image 7. Graphic linework punctuated with snap closures.

Fastening Details at Balenciaga | The Cutting Class. Balenciaga, PF15, Paris, Image 8. Finished with rows of buttons and buttonholes.

Fastening Details at Balenciaga | The Cutting Class. Balenciaga, PF15, Paris, Image 9. Contrast trim sewn into dart value.

Fastening Details at Balenciaga | The Cutting Class. Balenciaga, PF15, Paris, Image 10. Rows of fastenings used as embellishment.

Fastening Details at Balenciaga | The Cutting Class. Balenciaga, PF15, Paris, Image 11. Curve of collar echoes size and shape of button.

Fastening Details at Balenciaga | The Cutting Class. Balenciaga, PF15, Paris, Image 12. Buttons and bound buttonholes of different sizes used to fasten skirt front.

Images from Vogue.co.ukĀ»

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