Balenciaga is now owned by the Gucci Group, and its womens wear and mens wear are run by Nicolas Ghesquiere.
There was some conflict within Balenciaga on Nicolas Ghesquiere's designs. The Gucci group said that if Balenciaga didn't become profitable within the year 2007 they would be forced to replace him. Ghesquiere's 2005 line showed that the house was not only profitable, but also attracted a lot of celebrity customers including editor in chief at Vogue, Anna Wintour.
The house of Balenciaga designed both dresses worn by Jennifer Connelly and Nicole Kidman to the 2006 Academy Awards. They also made the wedding gown Nicole Kidman wore to her own wedding marrying Keith Urban. Kylie Minogue also wore a Balenciaga dress for her music video titled "Slow" and also on her concert tour.
Today, the brand is famous for its line of motorcycle inspired handbags, especially the famous "Lariat" line. Balenciaga owns only three boutiques in the US, their U.S. headquarters is in New York on West 22nd St., Honolulu, and Los Angeles. Boston and Orange County California boutiques are now planned to be opened soon.
Balenciaga's Fall/Winter 2007 show has wowed the Editor in chief of Teen Vogue Amy Astley so much that an article in Teen Vogue named "Global Studies" that was shot in Bejing influenced by the recent line, including skinny jodphers, tight, fitted blazers, beaded embellished scarves and a lot of other multiculti mixes.
Balenciaga is also well known for creating avant-garde structural pieces, being on the cutting edge of fashion and in the future of ready to wear garments. - source wikipedia
BALENCIAGA BAGS
Real vs. Fake
One of the reasons Balenciaga handbags are so popular is because they are made from some of the softest, thinnest, and most lightweight leather available. Once you've touched a Balenciaga handbag, you will be instantly "hooked"! The leather is very thin, but extremely durable. The type of leather used by Balenciaga is a very distressed looking type of leather. Every bag has a unique appearance. You'll find lines, wrinkles, folds and smooth spots all over the bag's body. No two Balenciaga bags look identical.
Most of the fake bags are made from a very inexpensive leather which has a shiny and stiff appearance to it. The leather on the fake bags looks more "cracked" than distressed. The tassels that are connected to all of the zippers should be just as soft as the bag's leather. They should hang loosely, and feel like velvet in your hands. The tassels on most fake bags are stiff and hard, and do not hang loosely. Below are a couple of pics of a fake Twiggy bag. Look closely at the bag's appearance. See how shiny it is? An authentic Balenciaga bag doesn't have this much shine to the bag. You'll also notice that the bag's material appears more "cracked" rather than distressed. Almost as if those lines were intentionally put there.
If you compared side by side with an authentic Classique. If you look closely, you will see some of the differences. The hardware on the fake bag is too silver & shiny. The hardware on an authentic bag is either brass or "dirty" silver. See the tonal differences in the authentic bag? The folds of the leather and the changes in color? The leather on the fake bag is too even and structured. It looks the same all over the bag. An authentic Balenciaga will usually "collapse" when empty. This is because the leather is so thin and soft, whereas the fake bags tend to hold their shape even when they're not stuffed.
Another thing to look at are the small rings on the zippers where the tassels are tied. There should be small rings on each of the zippers (the top zipper, the front zipper and the inner zipper pocket). All of these rings should be sealed or welded closed so that there are no gaps and/or spaces. Most of the fake bags (that I've seen) have small gaps where the ends of the ring meet. These rings are also made from a type of metal that cannot be easily bent and/or "pinched", whereas the rings on the fake bags tend to be much to thin and can be easily bent or pinched together, or in some cases, easily fall off. Also, the detachable shoulder strap. Look closely at the ends. The shoulder strap of an authentic bag should should be one solid piece with small openings at the ends where the hardware fits into. The leather on the shoulder strap of most fake bags are folded over the hardware and wrapped around it, creating a double layer of leather. The hardware at the ends should have a rounded, curved appearance to it, while most of the fake bags have more of a squared appearance to this hardware. There should also be a small eye hook that connects the hardware together. The tip of the eye hook should have a flat head and should be pushed up through the corkscrew shaped hardware. It should not stop just below it, as it does on most of the fake bags.
Below is a list of the best Balenciaga designed bags for purchase.