Nicolas Ghesquière

Nicolas Ghesquière (born 1971) is a fashion designer and was creative director for the house of Balenciaga owned by the Gucci Group (Pinault-Printemps-Redoute). He grew up in Loudun, Vienne.

He was born in Comines, Nord, the son of a Francophone Belgian golf-course owner and manager in the 9,000 inhabitants Poitevine town of Loudun and a French mother who enjoyed fashion. From a young age Ghesquière enjoyed and practised sports (horse riding, fencing and swimming) and many of his collections use that inspiration, most notably his scuba minidresses and most recently his equestrian inspired Fall/Winter 2006 Ready-To-Wear collection.

Raised in the small town of Loudun in western France (in the Poitevin-speaking part), Ghesquière announced at the age of 12 that he wanted to be a designer, though he now admits this was partly from an adolescent desire to do something different from his parents and to alleviate country boredom. So that's by the age of 12 that 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.

He diligently did internships during his school holidays. At 14, he got an internship with French designer agnès b for which he was paid in clothes. His next apprenticeship was with Corinne Cobson, afterwards 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 Pôles, 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-Amélie Sauve and Nathalie Marrec, of Balenciaga, Ghesquière eventually landed a job doing the licensing for Balenciaga and designing for the Asian market. It was from there that he was plucked to be the new designer for the house, which had limited success since the 1970s (the label's founder, Cristóbal Balenciaga, died in 1972). Ghesquière held, as he then described it, “ what many would call the worst position in fashion”: designing suits and funeral clothes under a Balenciaga licence for Japan.