Si me dejas, no vale! Ghesquière says goodbye to Balenciaga
by Luca Imbimbo
“Si me dejas, no vale. Si me dejas no vale!”, Julio Iglesias used to sing this way and I don’t know why but this is the tune buzzing around my head since monday, when I learned, with some dismay, the news of the break between the enfant prodige Nicolas Ghesquière and Balenciaga.
How did it happen? What happened? Whose the choice? So many questions fill my, our brain… For the time being, the reasons, the real ones, we are not given to know…
There is only one certainty… After fifteen years of professional romance, the French stylist and the historic Spanish Maison have decided to separate! To give the news François-Henri Pinault, head of Pinault-Printemps-Redoute, who run the brand. No regrets, no controversy, no remorse… A divorce, you might say, “civil” but not less painful…
Born in 1971, native of Comines, in the north of France, Nicolas Ghesquière came to the Balenciaga’s creative direction in 1997. Original, creative, unconventional… In a short time, the young designer was able to revolutionize the Iberian Brand’s little dusty-style by reinterpreting the unconventional vision of the unforgettable founder Cristobal. Men’s fashion immediately becomes a strength… The minimalist style, never granted. The attention to geometries. The wise use of colors. The structured forms. The search for materials. The love for the suits… He’s always one step ahead, our Couturière… He’s always the most discussed, admired, imitated…
BALENCIAGA Spring/Summer 2013
One example is the latest 2013 S/S collection. Rigorous black suits tell us of an underground, ambitious and self-confident young man… The classical pants’ are now high-waisted while it’s the length which becomes shorter turning them in an indispensable chic leisure’s suit… The trench coat is roomy and structured. Grays, beiges, whites alternate with hotter nuances: contrasting mustard, red and purple… As shoes, brushed calfskin-boots while simple foulards around the neck… The timeless Balenciaga’s flower-pattern is back in the silk shirts: a breaking element in a deliberately provocative and
incredibly rock austerity!
Only now it comes to my head that last fashion show in Paris, at N°15 rue Cassette, when the benches creaked under the weight of those who had come to witness that incredible, unique, unexpectedly last parade!
May that be the moment when that relationship, apparently very strong, started failing ? Who knows… We know one thing… From the next November, 30 Ghesquière will be free to make choices, to undertake new adventures, to amaze again and Cristobal will have a new successor… Who?
The Boys of 2013
Arnys Fall/Winter 2012 Campaign
actual
Si me dejas, no vale! Ghesquière says goodbye to Balenciaga
previous
The Boys of 2013
next
Arnys Fall/Winter 2012 Campaign
There’s a particular kind of freedom that comes with movement, and AMBUSH’s Spring/Summer 2026 collection, “Tribe on the Move,” captures that feeling.
Louis Vuitton’s latest travel campaign takes viewers on a visual journey through China, reimagining travel as an experience rather than just a destination.
Paris Fashion Week witnessed Steven Passaro’s Moonlit Lover Spring/Summer 2026 collection, an exemplar of the aftermath of love encountered after midnight and gone before sunrise.
Because home should never be denied to anyone. In a world where home shouldn’t be a privilege but a right, artist and activist Charlie Smits is stepping up. Smits has teamed up with Fundación… »
Simon Porte Jacquemus has fulfilled his dream, and in the process, he continues to invite us to dream with him.
We checked in with Takuya Morikawa to talk process, evolution, and the foundation in the essence of creation.
Berlin Fashion Week saw the return of Milk of Lime, fresh off their Berlin Contemporary win, with their Spring/Summer 2026 collection, CHIME.
Craig Green’s Spring/Summer 2026 collection feels like a half-remembered dream with shapes you recognize, but shifted just enough to make you look twice.
Photographer Denzil Jacobs presents a selection of eclectic looks photographed on the streets of Paris during Men’s Paris Fashion Week, outside Amiri, Rick Owens, 3.Paradis, Kidsuper and more, exclusively for Fucking Young!
Ikko Ohira photographed by Luis May and styled by Timothée Geny La Rocca, in exclusive for Fucking Young! Online.
At Paris Men’s Fashion Week, NAMESAKE’s Spring/Summer 2026 collection, INNERCHILD, didn’t just show clothes but also memories.
Designer Andrea Pompilio maps a wardrobe for modern nomads, one that looks collected rather than curated.
Louis Vuitton has always been about journeys, both literal and imaginative.
VIKTORANISIMOV chose an unlikely stage for its first Berlin Fashion Week presentation: a former telecommunications bunker, now The Feuerle Collection museum.
After the show, designer Feng Chen Wang caught up with us, to open up about the emotion behind this collection, and the brand’s evolving identity – accompanied by backstage moments captured by Leiya Wang.
Take a look at DOUBLET’s Spring/Summer 2026 backstage, captured by the lens of Rita Castel-Branco during Paris Fashion Week, in exclusive for Fucking Young!
Take a look at KIDSUPER’s Spring/Summer 2026 backstage, captured by the lens of Tiago Pestana during Paris Fashion Week, in exclusive for Fucking Young!
For Camiel Fortgens’ SS26, models walked the actual streets of Paris during Fashion Week, portable speakers in hand, each playing a fragment of the show’s soundtrack.
Singer-songwriter HUMBE is Mexico’s breakout pop star, leading us into a new era of sentimental pop.
Created with artist Samuel de Sabóia, the lineup weaves together regeneration, spirituality, and a question: What does the future of fashion look like?
ZIGGY CHEN’s PRITRIKE doesn’t shout. It hums like the low, steady pulse of rain on summer earth.
For their SS26 show, the adidas and Yohji Yamamoto collaboration traded the standard runway for something more visceral: a four-act performance directed by choreographer Kiani Del Valle.
After showing off-calendar for two seasons in a presentation format, the 2023 LVMH Prize-nominated designer Kartik Kumra is now the first Indian designer to be on the official menswear calendar.
SANKUANZ’s Spring/Summer 2026 collection finds its heartbeat in Tara, the Tibetan Buddhist goddess who exists between two worlds, both enlightened and earthly.
Creative director Julian Klausner builds his first men’s collection for the house like a love letter to contradictions.
Fashion often pretends to have answers. TAAKK’s Spring/Summer 2026 collection prefers questions.
Doublet doesn’t ask you to change the world. It just shows what happens when fashion remembers where it comes from.
The idea is simple but clever: take the rigid codes of a gentleman’s wardrobe and soften them for the heat.
For SS26, Hung La’s LỰU ĐẠN closes its trilogy “MAYHEM,” “YOU DON’T BELONG HERE,” and now “NO MAN’S LAND”, with a collection that stares straight at the people society ignores.
Marine Serre‘s Spring/Summer 2026 collection is about the quiet revolution happening in every stitch. Titled THE SOURCE, this is clothing that moves with purpose, crafted by hands that treat savoir-faire not as a relic, but as rebellion.
Here,… »
