Dua Lipa, Nicole Kidman, Kim Kardashian parade for Balenciaga’s haute couture dystopia

On July 6, 2022, Balenciaga’s Haute Couture Fall-Winter 2022-2023 fashion show was held at 10 avenue George-V, the historic boutique of the maison. The artistic director, Demna Gvasalia (at the head of the label since 2015) has opened her collection with several passages of very opaque looks, in black neoprene with a second skin effect, with a masked face. In the soundtrack, an artificial intelligence voice recited a poem that the 41-year-old Georgian designer had written together with her husband and Sophie Fontanel.

The dystopian Balenciaga haute couture show by Demna Gvasalia

After these initial looks with fetishist and dystopian accentsothers followed, always masked Alienbut much closer to what you’d expect from a high fashion show (aluminum-infused jersey t-shirt, satin-lined denim, dressed in leather strips from recycled belts, faux silk fur), up to step 39 where some celebrities have emerged.

The cast of the Balenciaga Haute Couture Fall / Winter 2022-2023 fashion show

The musician BFRND (incidentally husband of Demna Gvasalia), the Real Madrid footballer, Eduardo Camavinga, the real estate agent made famous by For sale sunset Christine Quinn, Dua Lipa, Kim Kardashian, Nicole Kidman (in a dress that looks like crumpled aluminum but is actually covered in taffeta), or even Naomi Campbell.

Also noteworthy is the presence of Danielle Slavik, a favorite model in the 60s by Cristobal Balenciaga himself.who exceptionally agreed to return to the podium.

Questioning the weight of fashion and the cult of personality

To close the show is a bride in a mask who has painfully crossed the high fashion salons by Balenciaga. In a 250-meter dress of bell-shaped tulle thanks to a crinoline, entirely embroidered (7500 hours of embroidery), she struggled to cross the doors and not to stumble under so much volume. How a dramatized way to express how binding and overwhelming the sewing traditions of the past can be.

For the order of the steps, this show can also be read as a reflection on the culture of celebrities and their researchhow one can suddenly go from total anonymity to hypermediatization, but also just as quickly fall back into oblivion (like Danielle Slavik, misunderstood by the younger generations), and want nothing more than to regain one’s own anonymity, as it may seem then.

Title photo credit: © Courtesy of Balenciaga.