It may have been just another scandal for Balenciaga during the Demna Gvasalia era. However, it may just be one too many. After the controversy of his double campaign in November 2022 with children with bags of BDSM teddy bears on the one hand and a court ruling on child pornography on the other, the artistic director of the house finally takes the floor to the media.
Demna Gvasalia explains the reasons for the scandal
Brief summary of the facts. The brand had first expressed its willingness to file a complaint against set designer Nicholas Des Jardins regarding the inclusion of ” these documents not validated, the result of irresponsible negligence on November 29. Useful fuse? Previously silent, artistic director Demna Gvasalia then posted a statement of apology on his Instagram account on December 2, soon followed by the CEO of the house Cédric Charbit. The latter announced that he was dropping the lawsuit against the set designer (“ Our investigation revealed that there was no staging or malicious act, in which case we immediately stopped the action [en justice] ”) and the establishment of a partnership with child protection associations. Well, three months after the explosion of the scandal, we finally know more.
After these unilateral communication methods, Demna Gvasalia now answers the questions of vogue in an article (note incidentally that it is not signed…) published on February 9, 2023. The day before, Balenciaga and the Kering Foundation (the luxury group that owns the maison) communicated their adhesion to the National Children’s Alliance (NCA) for its recently launched Children’s Mental Health Institute for the next three years. This interview therefore appears to be a well-tested operation. Let us recall in passing that Kering establishes itself as one of the leading advertisers a voguethat is to say that the luxury group buys many pages of advertising in the magazine, which gives it a certain economic weight for the health of the magazine, thus necessarily creating a dynamic of power over the contents that are proposed…
“Teddy bear bags refer to punk and DIY culture, definitely not BDSM”
This undoubtedly sheds light on the lightness of Demna Gvasalia’s answers. Thus he allows himself to unfold what, according to him, ” the bags–teddy bears refer to punk and DIY culture, absolutely not BDSM “, before explaining how they came to associate them with children, and renewed his apologies. He pursues:
“I realize my work has been seen as provocative, but that specific situation would never be a part of my, you know, provocative nature. It was the hardest thing for me personally – how could I not see [le problème] ? Because now it’s so clear to me that it was the wrong thing to do. I mean, I’ve been called terrible things, which I’m not, and Balenciaga isn’t. It was hard beyond horror to be associated with this issue [de maltraitance d’enfants]. »
“The name of Balenciaga and the legacy of Cristóbal Balenciaga are the ones that are close to my heart”
On the presence of compromising documents, Demna Gvasalia adds: “ It was a set of careless and unfortunate but unintended coincidences. “He hammers it out, even if the campaigns (the one with the kids and the one with the court decision on child pornography) came out a few days apart they wouldn’t be connected, according to him:
“When the scandal broke [par les documents et les accessoires]I was like, everyone, my team was shocked. I don’t know how they got there. They weren’t supposed to be there. I was completely amazed. »
Demna Gvasalia then continues with his desire to pay homage to the stylistic legacy of Cristóbal Balenciaga (1895-1972), founder of the house for which he now works as artistic director:
“It was mostly painful for me because I could not explain everything, but also the name of Balenciaga and the legacy of Cristóbal Balenciaga are the ones that I love and for which I have the greatest respect and fascination. »
“The show will be more about showcasing the collection than creating a moment”
This scandal would even allow Demna Gvasalia to go back to the basics for the next collection, the boss rather than his staging, as he concludes with vogue Always :
“It’s not about creating an image or a buzz or any of those things. I’m going back to making jackets. That’s where this house started, and that’s where I started as a designer. […] The provocative aspect of my work has often been misunderstood and misunderstood, and I no longer want to apply it to my creations. […] The show will be more about showcasing the collection than creating a moment. I’ve realized that it can take a lot of attention away from my current job, which is making clothes. I want to make sure that’s what people are looking at, because I think my value as a creative lies in designing the product, not being a showman. »
The announcement of a multi-year partnership with associations for the protection of minors, the creation of an internal supervisory unit for the brand’s visuals and the return to the heritage of the maison, this is the strategy for overcoming the crisis. on the eve of Paris Fashion Week Women’s Fall-Winter 2023-2024 from February 27 to March 7.
Photo credit by One: Instagram screenshot by vogue France.
Source: Madmoizelle
Mary Crossley is an author at “The Fashion Vibes”. She is a seasoned journalist who is dedicated to delivering the latest news to her readers. With a keen sense of what’s important, Mary covers a wide range of topics, from politics to lifestyle and everything in between.
