At the headquarters of Balenciaga, a giant portrait of Cristóbal Balenciaga hangs against Demna Gvasalia’s working desk. Known for his radical styles that redefine the look of the house, Demna sews his own vision of fashion’s essence into the luxury house every season. “When a product doesn’t resemble me, a customer doesn’t believe it and doesn’t want to have it.” Demna sometimes calls himself a “fashion activist”. While still paying tribute to the elegant cutting of Cristóbal, this activist goes on fire when it comes to Ready-to-Wear fashion.
Bad Taste and Good Taste
For the Winter 2024 collection, Demna embarked on his signature Dadaism conception and researched in two directions: The idea of bad taste and the idea of good taste.
The founder of the house, Cristóbal Balenciaga’s archive, unsurprisingly, is the source of ‘good taste’ that Demna dives into. The opening gowns are direct references to Cristobal’s early ’60s archive. The gown is equipped with a built-in popped hip shape created with shoulder pads from a tailoring jacket, inspired by the “hip-aulette” construction of the founder Cristobal, who is known for his genius on tailoring.
Does Demna consider his style “bad taste”? Not really. But for sure, he knows the controversies that his style can provoke. “This is something that makes me really angry often, that the fashion audience always wants fashion to tell this kind of fairy tale… No, it’s not true. It’s kind of pretty awful.” He makes fashion a platform for dialogue and reflection about the world we live in. It’s not just about creating beautiful objects but about sparking conversations and encouraging people to think critically about their choices and the societal norms they subscribe to. His confronting things with the design that creates discomfort for some is exactly the reason why many others love him so much and revere him as a great artist.
The Set Design: With Conceptual and Artistic Depth
photo credit: balenciaga.com
Demna uses set design as the backdrop of his creations that engage with broader cultural and societal issues. In the Winter 2022 show, he let models walk through an artificial snowstorm with 100km/h wind speed in a glass bowl, echoing refugees’ conditions and the Ukraine war. It is impressive, not because it’s as grand as Chanel’s nor as dramatic as AVAVAV would put on. Demna said, “There is a conceptual and artistic depth to it”. In the 2019 Fall collection, Demna transformed a sound stage into a Parliamentary chamber, and for Spring 2023, the show was held on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
