At Balenciaga, Real Clothes for Fake Times
Demna, the mononymous designer behind Balenciaga, just celebrated 10 years with the legendary Spanish brand. To say he has rewritten the codes of the house would be an understatement: He has studied the archive, burned it, reproduced it, and put it through a blender. He has started conversations in fashion around celebrity culture, cancel culture, and what it really means to get dressed today. And he posited more through his latest collection, set against massive screens playing AI-generated scenes of beaches, Paris, and snowy mountains. The clothes called into question what is old, what is new, and what is yet to come.
The invitation for the show was a faux eBay receipt, and each attendee received a tchotchke from eBay, from vintage Balenciaga scarves to silver trays handpicked by Demna himself. The invite says the items “imagination of personal stories, which give the objects new life.” So then, what about the clothes? Vintage-looking dresses with protruding hips appeared as if plucked directly from an archive right onto the models without being steamed or dry-cleaned. These pieces were countered with his signature oversized suiting, miniaturized or gargantuan track suits, cropped puffers with skinny jeans—the fare we’ve come to expect from a Demna offering. Bags were blown up to accommodate a lifetime of supplies, and the new accessory of the show was the 24/7 Mask, a polyurethane and silicone singular piece that hangs over the ears, providing the ultimate filter to see through.
Then things got a little weird, and by weird I mean crafty. Looks were made out of backpacks and dust bags; multiple camisoles were layered on top of one another, and torsos were taped down as if the models were on auction at eBay, ready to ship at a moment’s notice. The show notes describe “one-minute looks,” a.k.a. dresses made in his design studio with whatever was on-hand in, you guessed it: one minute. This resulted in dresses fashioned entirely out of bras and cut-up tee shirts, as well as complex layered jersey looks that almost trick the eye.
So what to make of the mish-mash, the barrage of images real and fake overpowering the clothing? Was that the point? Demna isn’t really probing contemporary culture as poignantly as he was five years ago, but to his credit, the technology and media landscape is changing faster than anyone can keep up with. The handicraft gets lost in the madness, as it is wont to do, but it still matters on a human level that it is being done. What will be fascinating to see is where this collection lands once it hits stores and the tides have shifted yet again.
BALENCIAGA WINTER 2024
Kevin LeBlanc is the Fashion Associate at ELLE Magazine. He covers fashion news, trends, and anything to do with Robyn Rihanna Fenty.