It's Official, Alexander Wang Is Leaving Balenciaga

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There was some of your standard rumor mongering stirring on this for a second, but this morning WWD is reporting that Balenciaga and its wunderkind creative director Alexander Wang are officially parting ways.

Balenciaga's parent company, Kering, and Wang had been in contract renewal talks for a minute and it seems that neither could come to an agreement. The next Balenciaga show, this fall at Paris Fashion Week, will be Wang's last with the house. Wang joined Balenciaga in late 2012 after Nicolas Ghesquière left the brand following a 15 year run. It seems that a lot of Balenciaga fans still yearned for Ghesquière's heyday during Wang's tenure.

The search for a successor is apparently already in progress and leadership at Kering is open to a lesser-known name to fill Wang's shoes, possibly following in Gucci's footsteps when it named Alessandro Michele its creative director, which has done wonders for sales. We'll be looking forward to seeing if this sets off a game of designer musical chairs or if Balenciaga opts for promoting from within.

Wang was supposed to be a bit of a shift in things for the house, but it doesn't seem that he ever really found his footing and got down to shaking things up, though sales were apparently never part of the problem. There are other reports stating that Wang may have been too invested in building his own namesake brand.

[Photo via H&M]

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