Nicolas Ghesquière

Alexander Wang hasn't said much about his new job at Balenciaga, but he's already logging hours studying the house's design history.

'"Immediately,' he said, 'I want to see the archives. I want to understand the culture behind the brand,'" said the brand's CEO Isabelle Guichot in an interview with WWD. "He could have slept there almost."

Pulling all-nighters might be necessary for Wang, who's due to present his first collection — a Fall 2013 women's line — in February. Guichot says she and Wang haven't decided how they're going to present the line and that she doesn't want to create any "unnecessary pressure" for her new designer.

Other than saying he felt "deeply honored" by his appointment, Wang hasn't commented on the new position other than to say, "We're still figuring things out."

Guichot has been a little more talkative and said she chose Wang because his understanding of the world — to say nothing of his fluent Mandarin and other ties to China, where the brand has 10 stores — will help bring Balenciaga forward.

"We wanted someone with global thinking, a citizen of the world, and someone who could understand the digital world and the direction of fashion and retail tomorrow," she said. "It will be a new vision; a new understanding of the brand. The heritage of Balenciaga is so big. Just a part of it has been exploited, but obviously not all of it."

Last week's rumors and Monday's confirmation that Alexander Wang is the new creative director of Balenciaga have elicited mixed responses in the industry and beyond.

Fashion critics like Cathy Horyn have taken analytical stances to Wang's appointment, commenting that his performance at Balenciaga will largely depend on where PPR executives want to take the company.

"The fact that they chose Mr. Wang, a contemporary-market designer, and not a high-fashion designer, emphatically suggests that they do want something different," Horyn wrote.

Robin Givhan of The Daily Beast agreed, writing last week that "Wang almost certainly would bring a broader commercial appeal to Balenciaga." When the news was confirmed today, she tweeted, "Bon chance to all!"

On Twitter, reactions ranged from elation (more than one account called his hire a "new era") to cautious optimism. A look at how the industry reacted to today's news, below.

Congrats Alexander Wang who will be taking over at Balenciaga. Can't wait to see (and shop!) xo ....via @womensweardaily

— Joe Zee (@mrjoezee) November 30, 2012

So it's Alexander Wang to Balenciaga but whither goes Nicolas the Great Ghesquiere?

— Hilary Alexander (@HilaryAlexander) December 3, 2012

It's official: Alex Wang goes to Balenciaga (tho keeps his own label too). Very new direction for the label!

— Christina Binkley (@BinkleyOnStyle) December 3, 2012

After weeks of speculation, @balenciaga officially appoints Alexander Wang Creative Director of the Balenciaga fashion house. A new era.

— i-D magazine (@iD_magazine) December 3, 2012

Raf Simons at Dior, Hedi Slimane at Saint Laurent Paris, Alexander Wang at Balenciaga. PARIS IS ON FIRE! #PFW #excitingtimes #helluvayear

— Jim Shi (@jimshi809) December 3, 2012

Confirmed: Wang announced at Balenciaga. Happy graduation day!

— bryanboy (@bryanboy) December 3, 2012

I see Wang xBalenciaga like a comedy where the older character is worried about the younger one "winning" but in the end no one loses anyway

— Amy Odell (@amyodell) November 30, 2012

Not sure how it will play out, but a younger American designer taking the helm at Balenciaga is a great moment for the US.

— John Jannuzzi (@johnjannuzzi) November 30, 2012

RT @seoulcialite: Wanglenciaga.

— Elizabeth Holmes (@EHolmesWSJ) November 29, 2012

very excited at all the chatter re @alexanderwangny heading to @balenciaga...can't WAIT for those clothes. WWD: wwd.us/Txo2iU

— Cindi Leive (@cindi_leive) November 30, 2012

Big global step for american fashion !“@nytimesfashion: Alexander Wang Appears as Leading Candidate for Balenciaga: nyti.ms/U3Gyvy

— steven kolb (@stevenkolb) November 29, 2012

Update: Alexander Wang will replace Nicolas Ghesquière as the creative director of Balenciaga. In an official announcement released this morning, PPR and Balenciaga announced that Wang will design the brand's women's and men's ready-to-wear, as well as accessories and image. Wang will continue to oversee his own namesake label as well.

"I am deeply honored to embark on this new role for a brand and house that I have such great admiration and respect for," Wang said in the release.

As for what a Wang-helmed Balenciaga will look like, it's anybody's guess. "Alexander Wang will use his creativity and his own research to reinterpret and immortalize the distinctive, modern, and extremely innovative style imposed by Cristóbal Balenciaga," explained François-Henri Pinault, CEO of PPR.

The news comes just a few days after both WWD and Cathy Horyn released independent reports that Wang was the rumored front-runner for the job.

Meanwhile, last Friday was Ghesquière's last day at Balenciaga. He announced earlier this month that he would leave the house after 15 years at the helm.

— Additional reporting by Christina Pérez

One of Cathy Horyn's sources in Paris claims that Alexander Wang is the likely replacement for outgoing Balenciaga designer Nicolas Ghesquière. The house could be ready to announce that it's hired Wang as early as next week, the source said.

Shortly after Ghesquière announced his departure, Balenciaga CEO Isabelle Guichot said that she had a short list of potential candidates, which was rumored to include Wang, Joseph Altuzarra, Bouchra Jarrar, J.W. Anderson, and Christopher Kane, among others. A spokeswoman for Kane said earlier this month that speculation about him joining Balenciaga was "unfounded," but just this week it was reported that Kane has had discussions for possible financing with Balenciaga's parent company, PPR.

Wang, who runs his brand independently, was rumored to be in the running to replace John Galliano at Dior last year. At the time, he said that he would only take on another design challenge if it were "completely different" from what he does with his own label.

"Sometimes you don't get to say all you want to say in your brand," he said. "When the right opportunity comes, it will present itself in a way that I'll be inspired by it. But right now, it's not like, 'Oh I'm after that house, I want to do that.'"

Only time will tell whether Wang is sufficiently inspired by Balenciaga. Ghesquière's last day at the house is Friday, Nov. 30.

Photo: Alexander Wang photographed by David Needleman for the October 2011 issue of Out Magazine.

If PPR invests in Christopher Kane's eponymous label, will they ask him to return the favor by taking the reins at Balenciaga?

Sources told WWD that Kane has been in talks with the French luxury goods conglomerate — which also owns Alexander McQueen, Gucci, and Yves Saint Laurent — about financial backing for his line. This news comes hot on the heels of Kane's departure from Versace's Versus line, which he designed for six seasons. It also comes just two days before Nicolas Ghesquière is set to leave Balenciaga.

Speculation that Kane would replace Ghesquière has been floating around since Ghesquière's departure was announced earlier this month — but a Kane spokeswoman called those rumors "unfounded." Ghesquière, who, rumor has it, may start his own label with LVMH, was spotted last week having dinner in Paris with LVMH's Delphine Arnault, Dior CEO Sidney Toledano, and Camille Miceli, Dior's artistic director for costume jewelry.

In any case, it's not unprecedented for a big firm to make an investment in a small brand on the condition that its designer works for one of its larger houses. For example, when LVMH bought a stake in Marc Jacobs's line in 1997, he ended up as the creative director of Louis Vuitton. Whether the same will happen with Kane and Balenciaga remains to be seen.

Speculation abounds about what Nicolas Ghesquière's life will look like after he leaves Balenciaga, but there are some in the industry who aren't confident he'll be able to start a signature label.

"I don't see private equity or hedge funds backing (a Ghesquière) brand, because of time horizon and fashion risk," said Pierre Mallevays of the London investment bank Savigny Partners in an interview with WWD. "Only a strong group with a confident vision and the means to boot would seriously contemplate that. The temptation for any such potential backer will be to try to apply Ghesquière's talent to an established brand with operating leverage, not just to a start-up, however prestigious."

Mallevays is one of a number of financiers and other business experts who said starting a brand from scratch — even a brand built on a talent like Ghesquière's — is a risky proposition. Their commentary comes on the heels of Karl Lagerfeld saying it wouldn't be "a bad idea" for Ghesquière to start his own line, as well as rumors that Bernard Arnault and LVMH have already offered him the ability to do so.

Sources claiming to be close to Ghesquière say he'll take a break from designing but has been "seriously considering" starting his own brand and is open to working for another house.

Photo: Nicolas Ghesquière in the March 2010 issue of Numéro.

Could Nicolas Ghesquière be thinking about a hiatus from fashion? Grace Coddington has seen more than one brilliant design career put on pause — or worse, come to an end —and hopes the same thing won't happen to her close friend Ghesquière, who's leaving Balenciaga at the end of the month.

"John Galliano, whom I adored — gone; Helmut Lang, major talent — gone," said Coddington in an interview with The New York Times. "Hopefully Nicolas won't just give up and walk away. He's too good, too strong, too brilliant, too passionate."

Coddington said she rode out the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy with Ghesquière at the Carlyle Hotel, where a number of industry names stayed after the storm. Perhaps Ghesquière let something slip while Coddington and her cats "sat with him" in his room there?

Whatever Ghesquière has planned, Coddington has added her name to a star-studded list of people who want Ghesquière to stay in fashion. Earlier this month, Karl Lagerfeld said that it's "not a bad idea" for the designer to start his own line.

Speculation abounds about what Nicolas Ghesquière will do after he leaves Balenciaga, but Karl Lagerfeld already has an idea for the designer's next move.

"Perhaps Nicolas wants to have his own label, which is not a bad idea," Lagerfeld said at the Paris launch of the Little Black Jacket exhibit. "And it would not be a bad idea if somebody such as Bernard Arnault would invest in a new label because there are so many old labels (within the LVMH group)."

If Arnault backed Ghesquière's line, it would put him and Lagerfeld — who designs LVMH's label Fendi — on the same payroll. Some in the Paris fashion world believe that's exactly what's going to happen. Earlier this week, a source told Suzy Menkes that Arnault has already offered Ghesquière his own house, and another source called the situation "delicate." But while the business team at Balenciaga says it already has a short list of potential replacements, so far there's been no definitive word on what Ghesquière will do next.