Not that too much needs to be speculated about this, but Alexander Wang's exit from Balenciaga took people by surprise. By most accounts, the clothes were good and so were the sales. Plus, he'd only been in the creative director post for around three years. Now, Wang has doors open in front of him to focus on his own brand while Balenciaga searches for another design head. Not to mention, Wang's first store in Europe just opened in London and it's the signal for the next phase of growth for the designer and his namesake brand, according to The Independent.
It's crazy to think that Wang has already been around for 10 years and has become one of the few unassailable brands in the industry mixing the sporty with the minimal. The Wall Street Journal Magazine took a quick look at Wang's day to see how he spent his time running both brands, which, spoiler alert, was more or less comprised of him sending 20 emails to himself to stay on top of shit. There's no question that he was up to the task. But now his namesake brand brings in just under $100 million per year and has become an empire of neutral tees and sweats (with some other stuff mixed in). I guess the most interesting angle here is that he's left a traditional power to continue building an up and coming one of his own in a label that's already family-owned and family-run. It's essentially the modern-day entrepreneur's dream and there's no reason to think Wang won't become an even bigger name than he already is.
It will be very interesting to see how his exit pans out for both sides. Balenciaga doesn't really need him with the pedigree it already has and Wang doesn't need Balenciaga to continue his legitimacy. This might be one of those breakups where each party comes out ahead. Ah, yes, the rare mutual breakup. And you thought that was just an urban legend.
