Balenciaga parades its luxury dresses in the mud: too much provocation?

Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, is a difficult artist to follow. So seeing him fall from the mountain of mud that served as the podium at Balenciaga’s latest show created a surprise, on 2 October 2022, in Villepinte (Parisian suburbs). Indeed, the latest whim of Demna Gvasalia, the maison’s artistic director, was to express the rise of fascism and the nuclear threat through this post-apocalyptic setting (a strangely trendy vibe this season, as she just illustrated Balmain but also TikTok). Accustomed to spectacular sets, the designer is also writing a sort of sequel to his latest fall-winter 2022-2023 ready-to-wear fashion show that took the form of a giant snowstorm. Because, after the immaculate whiteness of the flakes, granita often arrives.

A Balenciaga collection that seems to have entered the war

It is therefore in this atmosphere of the end of the world that the rapper fell wearing a technical jacket, the mouthguard in his mouth, as if preparing to fight against dark forces. Other models followed, with makeup that gave the impression that their face was puffy, going hand in hand with sometimes conscientiously pre-damaged clothes (like the recent Balenciaga sneakers sold for a pre-destroyed fortune). Some had accessories as a stuffed bag that seemed to have survived even a war.

Upon closer inspection, most of the clothing was pretty basic – lots of oversized jeans, easy-to-wear hoodies, and jackets with oversized sleeves as the main extravaganza, as if the future forced us to play big guns.

But it is the accessories that have particularly marked the spirits. Brightly colored bands spiral down from the hills. Branded obi top boxer style wide belts protruding from the pants. Opera gloves slip on and go up to the shoulder to become handbags through a huge square pocket. And the clogs sail on the trend of the famous Boston model from Birkenstock (a fashion that is therefore here to stay). Special mention to those studded with Swarovski crystals that contrasted strongly with the omnipresent darkness of the mud. We will also notice the demand for men to wear boned bodies (more commonly called corsets) over baggy jeans.

Taking off luxury dresses in the mud: too much provocation?

This Balenciaga Spring-Summer 2023 show ended with a dress made up of a multitude of bags sewn together in patchwork (the most famous model of the house, the City, or more precisely its derivative, the Lariat). Promoting recycling, a survival strategy?

Once again it is a Balenciaga show with such an impressive scenography that we almost forget the clothesso one may wonder what Demna Gvasalia wanted to tell us. S.‘he refuses to explain himself in his note of intent, we know that the designer had to flee the war in Abkhazia, Georgia, in 1993, taking refuge in particular in Russia and Ukraine before settling in France. He therefore seems to want to continue to show the mirror of the terrible news to fashion players who can afford the luxury of ignoring it.

But this aestheticization of exile and its violence by a luxury home, coming from a designer, however worried, has something to question and disturb.. However, if Balenciaga pretended, like all other brands of his stature, to ignore the current state of the world, he could also be blamed. It is therefore a complex act of balancing, between battles of styles and opinions, against the backdrop of a real war between Russia and Ukraine.

Title photo credit: Courtesy of Balenciaga.