Nicolas Ghesquiere was born in Loudun, France in 1972. He was the son of a golf-course manager and a mother who liked fashion. Sports was the theme of his early life, he rode horses, swam and fenced. He loved the elegant fencing clothes. The Ghesquiere family spent their summers in Spain.

By the age of 12, Nicolas was dreamily sketching dress designs in his school books, making dresses out of his mother's curtains and making earrings out of his grandmother's chandelier crystals.

At 14, he got an internship with French designer Agnes B for which he was paid in clothes. His next apprenticeship was with Corinne Cobson, whoe cheeky chic knits and separates were popular with young Parisiennes. But he decided that fashion was too hard work and came home to finish his schooling.

After completing his studies, Nicolas worked from 1990-1992 as an assistant to designer Jean-Paul Gaultier. He then worked at Poles, designing their knit wear line followed by a series of inauspicious assignments with different companies including the Italian house of Callaghan.

Through his contacts with Marie-Amelie Sauve and Nathalie Marrec, of Balenciaga, when Josephus Thimister departed as chief designer from the house of Balenciaga, Ghesquiere was given a shot at the top job.

In 1997, at the age of 25, he was the surprise choice to head Balenciaga. For his first show, which was very architectural, hardly anyone came because he was so unknown. But the word got out, and now he and his clothes are really well-known and admired.

His pants are particularly popular, the girls say he cuts the sexiest trousers for women. In his first year there were blousons on linked circles, apron tunics and batwing tops. There were sheer high-necked dresses with flowing skirts.

A year ago he ornamented the shoulders of his skin-tight tops with tassels, trims, fake-fur tails and torn ruffles. For Spring 2001 he festooned jersey cocktail dresses with swags of lace, dotted swiss and raw-edged ruffles and pearl garlands. For day, he has taken overalls and cut them into narrow mini-dresses. He is the only designer who has been able to truly breathe new life into the 80's resurgence.

An aspect of the designer's devotion to the house's legacy, is his respect for Cristobal Balenciaga's unyielding elegance and inventiveness. However, even though the Balenciaga archives are stored in Ghesquiere's atelier, he can gain entry to the locked room only by special appointment with an off-site custodian.

In 2001, he won the VH1 Designer of the year award.

For the present, Ghesquier's plans are to build Balenciaga into an international powerhouse brand, with better perfumes, menswear and a full range of accessories. But eventually, he will have his own label. He says that he is saving his own name for something very new and very different. Click on Balenciagafor more details.



SS 2003