With an insane mud show in Paris, Balenciaga showed again what it means not to let anyone spit in your soup.
You can see it better backstage: the Balenciaga baby on the left, the sleeve pocket on the right. Looks from the new Balenciaga collection, shown at Paris on Sunday.Sabine Roethig
Kanye West trudges through the mud that the slop just squirts. He walks like a man with big goals. Defiantly he circumnavigates a huge mud crater. From its edge, Naomi Campbell, Anna Wintour, Offset, Juergen Teller, Kylie Jenner, Khloé Kardashian and other guests watch him trudge. It’s Paris Fashion Week, we’re at the Balenciaga show – and it’s blowing up everything that’s gone before. The so-called Mud Show is terror and entertainment in equal measure.
But to be able to see the new Balenciaga collection for next spring, one had to move quite a bit out of Paris on Sunday. Trains didn’t run, so getting there was only possible by shuttle, taxi, or private car. The goal: an exhibition hall in Villepinte, near Charles de Gaulle Airport. Take it or leave it, guest. The usual hype in front of the door was perhaps comparatively meager for that reason.
Naomi Campbell and Offset on the rim of the mud crater.German Larkin/Balenciaga
When entering the hall, one literally blacked out. There wasn’t much light, everything was dark. Typical Balenciaga, typical Demna. And then you suddenly stood in front of this gigantic lunar landscape made of dark brown mud, the counterpart to the snow desert of the Balenciaga show in March of this year, and were amazed: what a crazy setting! The guests on the other side were far away and barely visible, eyes struggling with the darkness, the smell extraterrestrial. The Berlin fragrance researcher Sissel Tolaas had previously sprayed the moist, earthy haze onto the mush for hours. “Mud is usually odorless,” she said after the show. One thing is clear: Balenciaga did it again. In the face. Luxury fashion as a mud fight.
Kanye West and the Balenciaga baby
Then the first look, troublemaker Kanye West in a security uniform, followed by Balenciaga runway celebrities like BFRND, musician and husband of creative director Demna, the bald Hansi Schmidt or Minttu Vesala, a tall woman with short, blond hair who always crooked. The models worked their way through the mud to a thumping music that hurt the chest. A dystopian happening and absurdly funny at the same time. The outfits: pumped-up tops, tattered jeans, giant sneakers, bobbing spiral scarves, logo shoppers, bags that were like sleeves – and the ultimate chip bag. A bag of crisps with a zip, awesome!
Pretty messy: Kanye West trudges through the mud. He presented the first look of the Balenciaga collection for next spring.Balenciaga
Later, the finer clothes were paraded – long dresses, elegant suits and coats. The precious fabrics were quickly soiled with dirty broth. The hems of the evening dresses soaked up the mud from the floor like kitchen roll. The sight was reminiscent of the sometimes rough handling of the robes during the couture show.
And what was bouncing in the chest straps? Were those little heads of real children? Backstage after the show, you could see the Balenciaga babies, they were dolls. However, Daniil Kercz had already established a connection with “his baby”. “Her name is Lola,” revealed the model. No wonder, the doll looked deceptively real. On social media, people were already starting to get upset about it. Babies and dolls have walked the runway before, though. So that was a Balenciaga version: blond man carries black doll child.
An exhibition hall of the Parc des expositions de Paris-Nord Villepinte was completely filled with modder for the Balenciaga show.Sabine Roethig
The soiled collection items from the Balenciaga mud show were cleaned in plastic tubs immediately after the presentation.Sabine Roethig
It says in the letter from Demna, which was printed out on the squares. “The more you try to be yourself, the more you get in the face for it. It’s great that we’re all different.” He no longer wants to explain his collections, he continues. Either you like them or you don’t. And it’s the same with Balenciaga, you don’t have to explain the hype. Neither does the show. All of these things speak for themselves.
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