Balenciaga chief designer Demna wished for nothing more than a quick end to this show. The idea with the pants was really good.
The show’s first look was presented by Berlin-based artist Eliza Douglas. The pattern for this blazer is currently available for download as a PDF on Balenciaga’s website.Balenciaga
“I’ve never wanted a show to be over before it even started,” says Demna, Balenciaga’s creative director. Hands with smartphones reach towards his mouth. He is surrounded by a bunch of journalists. The designer appears fragile, very different from his sometimes violent work. He gently answers the same question over and over again: whether his current, super simple fashion show is a reaction to the big scandal. “I had the idea before that to just focus on the clothes this time,” says Demna. “But the current situation has only confirmed to me that this is the right approach now.”
We are backstage, the new Balenciaga winter collection has just been presented. There is no champagne and no appetizers. Just kisses, hugs and answers that seem honest. This show was highly anticipated at Paris Fashion Week as the luxury brand has had a lot of ugly headlines lately – and it’s still haunting it. Two advertising campaigns had caused great indignation on social media, and links between children and pornography could be read in the photos. Pseudo-moral and conspiracy fueled by the conservative Fox News moderator Tucker Carlson, the wave of outrage probably first arose in the USA and then quickly spilled over to Europe. After that, no one was interested in Balenciaga’s apologies for the misleading imagery and the millions in donations to facilities for traumatized children.
Nobody needs more drama now
On Sunday, during Paris Fashion Week, the first Balenciaga show after the big drama was on. Because there had been riots in the Balenciaga boutiques in the USA, among other things, the venue was kept secret until the evening before, and the guests were asked to be discreet about the address. It’s true that the whole thing isn’t seen as wildly in France, but it was safe to say. Word had already got around that one could not count on the fallow land bombast of past shows à la mud and snow desert.
The chosen location: the basement of the Carrousel du Louvre, where most of the Parisian shows ran until the early noughties. Because the space impresses above all with its simplicity, the luxury brands gradually migrated to more glamorous places, above all Karl Lagerfeld with his legendary Chanel shows in the Grand Palais. So having the Balenciaga show here was also a sign. A white room awaited the guests, with a dead straight runway and black chairs on either side.
A look from the Winter 2023 collection: floral Balenciaga ensemble consisting of a silk top with extra-long sleeves, a calfskin skirt and an hourglass bag.Balenciaga
The ghosts that Demna had called up – that in the past people had talked more about the Balenciaga set than its fashion – he now exorcised those ghosts from his audience. Now only the collection counted – and he was able to convince many critics with the new designs. Because what actually went down a bit in recent times because of all his wacky fashion shows is his skills as a fashion designer.
A successful balancing act with pants
The core theme, the tailored trousers, which show up as a waistband on the blazer and coat hems, is ingenious. Demna finds a solution between his typical wit and noble couture. But that’s not all, you can see sophisticated floral dresses that, on closer inspection, consist of a silk bodice and a calfskin skirt. The bag – also in the same pattern – disappears into the outfit, albeit very large, like camouflage. The sleeves of the dresses are as long as the skirt hems, a further development of the overlong sleeve trend. Later in the sale, however, the sleeves will be shorter, Balenciaga explains. After all, the customer has to be able to wear it.
On the left a sparkling rhinestone dress that opens at the back. On the right a blazer from the modified trouser cut, as well as the double trousers below.Balenciaga
The rounded, padded shoulders on many looks are a nod to traditional designs by Cristóbal Balenciaga, the one-time founder of the fashion house of the same name. The humped tops, which initially appear repulsive, are in turn an inflatable gimmick by Demna – a kind of adapted safety vest. It is striking that there are hardly any logos or too many accessories. Do you want to avoid blunders? The Balenciaga designer says after the show: “I wanted to create synergies between my typical design elements. I wanted to see how they could coexist in one collection. Totally devoid of branding and the things aimed at marketing. Just the pure design, that’s all I wanted.” He succeeded. And coincidentally, these puristic tendencies can also be noticed in many other designers. A successful balancing act by Balenciaga!
So we have elegant times ahead, dear readers. And something else became clear during this Paris Fashion Week. Artistic freedom is a privilege of art and not of fashion. In the end, it might just be that we look beautiful in fashion. Or not?
The blazer pattern of the first and second looks of the new collection can currently be downloaded as a PDF – so you can have your own Balenciaga blazer tailored.