Text: Dariga Masenova ALEXANDER VENG HAS LAUNCHED ITS FIRST COLLECTION IN 15 YEARS, BASED ITS OWN CLOTHING ALEXANDER WANG IN 20, AND WAS APPOINTED A CREATIVE DIRECTOR OF THE DOMAIN LEGA IN 28. THIS YEAR WUNDERKIND INDUSTRY CROSSED 30-YEARS ABROAD. IS IT SUCH AS A FASHION-GENIUS? A handsome, sophisticated American of Chinese descent has always dreamed of becoming a fashion designer. It all started in 1999 in his native San Francisco, where 15-year-old Wang staged his first fashion show at his brother's wedding. A slender young man with long hair surprised the audience with thirty models invented and sewn during an internship at Saint Martins College of Modern Design in London.
Three years later, Wang left to conquer the fashion capital of New York and entered the prestigious Parsons School of Design, which produced such luminaries as Marc Jacobs, Tom Ford and Donna Karan. In his second year, he got a job practicing with Derek Lam, but by the end of the year, plunging headlong into creating his own collection, Wang was expelled from the university for poor performance.
After worrying about the difficulties of adolescence, relatives and friends from Taiwan still decided to help the young talent, and thanks to their financial support, Wang released the first collection of unisex cashmere sweaters under the registered Alexander Wang label in 2005. The collection immediately attracted the first buyers and public attention. Two years later, he showed off his collection at New York Fashion Week! The success of the show provided Wang with the necessary budget: in 2008, he received a cash prize of $ 200,000 for the development of the aspiring Alexander Wang brand from the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) and the Vogue Fashion Fund.
What so distinguished Wang from other modern fashion designers? Famous for its rich nightlife and friendship exclusively with models, Wang could not help but catch the new trend of the time, namely, the "M.O.D." style that was emerging in New York - model offduty, that is, the style of the models outside their working hours - relaxed, simple and unfinished. The designer began to work in this direction, and soon turned street fashion into a glamorous dream. Wang's vision perfectly reflected the image of a girl in a modern metropolis. “I liked the small errors, defects, understatement in clothes,” the designer shared.
Paris through the eyes of Wang
In 2012, there were three events that shook the fashion world: the departure from Dior of John Galliano, a personnel change in Hermes, where Jean-Paul Gaultier was replaced by Christophe Lamer, and the arrival of Alexander Wang in Balenciaga. A difficult “cool” boy was suddenly invited to head one of the oldest French fashion houses!
Critics were worried: what do Americans generally know about couture fashion and its very nature? In addition, when Wang was appointed creative director of Balenciaga, he said, "the commotion began in the company, everyone was nervous and worried whether they would remain in their places." The young designer decided not to disrupt the House’s structure and went the wise way - he established relations with the old team.
And then he plunged headlong into the study of the archives of the House and was shocked by the technique and skill of its founder - Cristobal Balenciaga. “How complicated things looked and how simple they were made: a 1967 Bride dress was sewn from two different lengths of silk-gazar, and a coat with sleeves like a kimono was made of only three pieces of fabric,” Wang wondered. Alexander's first collection for the 2013 Balenciaga became the main intrigue of the year. The fact is that Wang replaced the Frenchman Nicolas Gesquiere, who worked at the House for 13 years and created real fashion masterpieces. Everyone was interested in how Wang would express his vision after such masters as Balenciaga and Gesquière. Wang's debut was cautious. Although the show passed without noise, in a restrained salon atmosphere, Wang nevertheless met expectations: the designer was able to add a modern character and audacity to the rich heritage of the House. According to some fashion experts, the collection was impeccable: "Like the creations of Cristobal himself, his outfits looked strictly and ascetic from afar and luxuriously close."
Balenciaga vanga
In the first fall-winter collection of the season, Wang used all the elements of the Fashion House style: rigid, fabric-shaped, architectural cut, Raglan sleeves, beloved by Balenciaga. Marble effect knitwear and monochrome gamut only emphasized this.
In the second collection of the season "Spring-Summer 2014" became more than Wang himself. The designer took reference to the clean and light silhouette of the 1960s, the main trend of the season. A distinctive feature of the collection was Wang’s work with textures: the editors were delighted with the dense embossed cotton top and cropped tops made of fancifully interwoven fiber.
The 2014 Cruise Collection picked up a new wave of minimalism. Now Wang has focused on accessories. He made bracelets, earrings, fringes, and sandal straps from old telephone cords, and made vinyl hats like lampshades. All this crowned the classics of Balenciaga in Wang's interpretation.
In the latest Balenciaga collection, Fall-Winter 2015, the style of its creator has been most clearly manifested. Living in two cities, Paris and New York, Wang brought a piece of the Big Apple to Parisian chic. The collection has a lot of strict knitted items from laminated yarn, with which the designer actually began. In addition, Wang released on the catwalk models in furs with clutches, and on the knees and pockets of many of them, as a decor, you could see the zipper, a kind of reference to the aesthetics of the street style of his own label.
Street child
Despite his gentle oriental appearance, the designer always loved hard forms, deconstructive, almost “torn” materials, black and asphalt colors. He liked to take street style as a basis, process it and serve with luxury sauce. In the Spring-Summer 2011 collection, the designer unexpectedly made white the central color, and several optimistic bright outlets of the models perfectly emphasized the whiteness of key dresses. Spacious sundresses, fluttering parkas, free overalls - Wang left the usual leather jeans and biker jackets and showed the public the ability to create things in the style of constructivism, which was confirmed by the hit of the season - jumpsuit. The designer was inspired by the "construction period" in his own life - expanding the studio, new apartments in Manhattan, opening the first store on Grant Street.
In 2013, Wang was invited by the textile company Woolmark to film a new advertising campaign for merino wool together with the legendary photographer Annie Leibovich. A picture of Wang on the streets of New York with a cute sheep quickly spread in the world’s gloss, and the designer himself shared that he loves working with wool: "This is an environmentally friendly product, wool is always modern and appropriate." Finally, recently a message appeared in Wang’s instagram that he would become the next designer of the H&M capsule collection. This is a great opportunity for a wide audience to try out elements of the style and brand of Alexander Wang. According to Margareta van den Bosch, H&M creative adviser, “Wang is one of the most important voices of fashion today. He knows exactly what people want to wear, and he does it with infectious energy and passion.” The collection will go on sale on November 6, 2014.
However, in the end, lovers of the style of this young and daring designer would like to advise being careful. In mid-July 2013, the designer arranged a secret meeting with New York fans to show off a new collection of his extra line, T by Alexander Wang. The PR campaign positioned the meeting as "a one-of-a-kind covert event in Manhattan." Fans were inside a huge warehouse with clothes. Suddenly, Wang from a huge screen said that all the clothes are free and everyone can take as much as they can carry. The crowd rushed inside, but it was only a cunning ploy. All the action was shot on video and uploaded to YouTube, where the story of the "secret event" was told from and to. Subsequently, the designer admitted that he researched a modern consumer society.
So, at ease, Wang makes fun of his fans, joins the fashion elite, sets new rules, intuitively broadcasting the trends of our time in his works. And along the way, showing everyone that by the age of 30 you can achieve the highest milestones in your career.
