Paris Fashion Week: Balenciaga S/S 2012

Quite unlike everything anyone else has done There was drama before we even got to the clothes at Balenciaga this morning - at least four benches collapsed and as a result guests were told they had to stand for safety reasons (and Twitter went crazy).

“It created quite the spirit of camaraderie,” said Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman, noting the show – aside from the seating excitement – to be great and “quite unlike everything anyone else has done, which is exciting”.

This season Nicolas Ghesquiere – who has been at the creative helm of Balenciaga since 1997 - worked with beautiful printed shirts, broad shoulders on suede dresses and vests and high-waisted trousers made from different fabrics – so denim at the front and twill at the back. Legs were narrow on the trouser front and with belts woven through the waist, while mini shorts were cut high on the leg and worked to build up the boxier jacket shapes above.

The thing with Balenciaga is that it’s sometimes hard to describe exactly what you’re seeing – the objects themselves are not necessarily obvious but they somehow make sense when you see them.

It was graphic and futuristic at the beginning (with long pockets and panelled jackets of lilac, peach, claret and navy), and then softened later with longer skirts made up from patchwork fabric or dripping with stalactites of metallic fringing. It ended with graphically-cut tabards and wimple hats made from leather to give an ecclesiastical feel – apt given that the audience were all standing as if at a service.