Balenciaga Spring 2010 Collection

Take the "jeans." What looks, at a distance, as if it might be gray-blue denim is actually vegetable-dyed leather. The "hoodie" is engineered from molded leather, woven jersey, and nylon foam. The ankle sections of the boots are either hand-loomed fabric or a meltdown of blue, white, and green strips of leather, laser-compressed into a striated amalgam that looks.

In the collage of elements, there were recycled fabrics and natural-looking hemp weaves, and a sidelong tribalism in the urban-warrior eye makeup and footwear. The street element had some of the flavor of the hit "student" collection of Fall 2007, and it will certainly give license to young women—and the vendors of fast fashion—to look at sweats and gym skirts in a whole new, highly commercial light.