The Balenciaga Spring/Summer 2012 presentation event was held on the same day as the Coach SS12 Press Day on Wednesday, so needless to say, I was shuttling back and forth from KL. Held at the Balenciaga store in Suria KLCC (and to my overseas readers, it’s also known as the Petronas Twin Towers). The event began at 7pm, and the store was already filled with members of the media as well as Balenciaga’s VIP customers when I arrived at 7:10pm.

At the event, guests were the first to preview the entire Spring/Summer 2012 collection, including shoes, sunglasses, jewellery and perfume. Models were all decked out in the latest SS12 Ready-to-Wear Runway collection, but because there were only 3 of them, they had to change numerous times so that guests could get a taste of all the different outfits from the collection.

Here are some shots of the merchandise on display:

My FAVE pair of shoes from the SS 12 collection!!

The “Tube” line of bags in Grey and Red — I love the clutch!

Here are shots of my favourite SS12 looks on the models:

All guests were entitled to a 15% discount on all merchandise during the event. And a note to all Balenciaga fans: hurry up and act fast if you want to get something from the brand because they’re going to be increasing their prices soon!

While at the event, I also managed to have a chat with Balenciaga’s representative from the Paris headquarters. Since I am a MAJOR fan of the giant hardware, and am still bummed about it being discontinued, I asked him the reason behind that business decision. And his answer? … The brand decided to discontinue the giant hardware because of the weight (those babies are quite heavy but it’s the giant hardware that makes them all the more stylish no?) as well as the new direction that Balenciaga is evolving into. To paraphrase, he said that the giant studs are too “in your face” and too “bling”. Maybe at that time it was more appropriate because people wanted more “bling” bags, but now, they’re (the brand) looking towards something less obvious, more subtle, but still classic Balenciaga, hence the NEW giant hardware, which I still refuse to refer to as giant, but instead, referring to them as medium hardware.. hehe. That aside, he also commented that the “Tube” and “Papier” range of bags are also the new classics that will be around each season.

For a more detailed post on Balenciaga’s SS12 bags, click here.

All images by Stylicious Fashionista