How Alex Wang Learned Discipline At Balenciaga, Got Used To Jet Lag

If we had to guess, 2013 was Alexander Wang's year. The designer had been soaring on the success of his namesake label since 2007, but this year marked the first that the NYC fashion fixture made the hop across the pond to Balenciaga. And, despite the constant state of jet lag we assume he's in — "It’s actually gotten a lot easier for me," he told WWD — breaking (just a bit) out of his downtown-girl comfort zone seems to suit Wang well.

"I really took it on as a way to see myself incorporate into a different business structure," the designer told Bridget Foley at the WWD CEO Summit, "something that might challenge me in the way that my own company may be able to grow into in a few years or a decade, etc." Of course, the challenge he's referring to is representing and upholding the Cristóbal Balenciaga name and iconic fashion house — a task that comes with no small amount of pressure. "At Alexander Wang, it’s a completely personal project. I started it from scratch and it was really a personal desire to find my own voice," he said, explaining that separating his two labels — Alexander Wang and Balenciaga — is made a bit easier because of the geographic distance between them.

Of course, while 2013 may have been a big one for the 29-year-old, this really only marks the beginning."[Designing for Balenciaga] was a completely new challenge that I’m not used to, but in a way, it really gave me discipline, gave me a way of creating codes and to dig for certain things and find things and make them more au courant, and make them more recognizable to speak to a much larger audience." Thankfully, if the widespread success of his eponymous label is any indication, speaking to a large audience seems to be this designer's forte. (WWD)