Alexander Wang recently sat down with i-Dto discuss his role at Balenciaga and his future plans for the brand.
During the interview, Wang discusses taking over the role of creative director at Balenciaga back in 2012. Following the legacy of Nicolas Ghesquière, he admits that he was very nervous in his new position. "There are a lot of situations where you hear of a new creative director and they bring in their new team, and it's a re-haul. It was much more of a work in progress for me. It was just getting to know the team, and getting them to trust me."
Now, after three years and the successful showing of his collections, Wang shared how he is shaping the future of the brand and creating an aesthetic that is uniquely Balenciaga.
"In my time at Balenciaga I want to develop those items and products that can be recognized immediately as Balenciaga. To create these - status sounds so pretentious - but these items that people know represent something; there is a value of immediacy to it. It's the bow, or the feather, or the anchor and I'm just trying to resurrect it and make it more relevant and kind of… it's a dirty word, but exploit it a bit."
The designer was also asked to create a special edition cover wrap in honor of the magazine's 35th birthday. The designer chose to do a selfie, because he wanted to reflect the times. For his feature, he took the chance to include Kate Moss.
"I've always been a big fan [of Kate] but I haven't worked with her yet at Balenciaga and she came to the show, and this opportunity came up and I thought it would be fun to do something with her and i-D because i-D always has an interesting take on iconic figures in fashion."
When asked if the designer, who was recently named one of TIME magazine’s "100 Most Influential People," ever reads the comments from his haters, he said, "There are things that we do that are really polarizing, and I think that's what fashion is about, I mean, you need it to trigger conversation. You can't always do something that everyone's always going to love."
To read the rest of the interview head over to i-D.
