This Sunday, 6 March, Balenciaga invited a smattering of stars including Kim Kardashian, Euphoria's Alexa Demie, Roddy Ricch, Elite's Manu Rio, and A$AP Ferg to its Autumn/Winter 2022 show, which was held at the Parc des Expositions du Bourget in Paris.
Below are the four most important things you need to know about Balenciaga's barn-storming new offering.
1 | The show was mounted in support of Ukraine
"Long live Ukraine, for beauty, strength, truth, freedom." said the Georgian artistic director of Balenciaga, Demna (formerly known as Demna Gvasalia) from the dark of the Parc des Expositions du Bourget, as an introduction to his show. Reciting a poem from 1917 in a show of support for Ukrainian refugees, Demna went on to state that in times of crisis, "fashion week looks like a kind of absurdity" but must still take place.
At the end of the show, a man in a yellow tracksuit and a woman in a long sky blue sheath dress with a huge train appeared, in a subtle nod to the Ukrainian flag. The designer seems to have been particularly affected by the conflict since he fled Georgia during his home country's war with Russia in the 1990s.
2 | The atmosphere was apocalyptic
Within the confines of a circular glass wall, an icy snowstorm served as Demna's catwalk. The 69 models who paraded through the designer's desolate landscape were furnished with loose hair; their steps insecure, their clothes supplying a kind of makeshift protection. Among them were three half-naked models, in boxers and sneakers, covered at the shoulders with what looked like simple cotton towels. Perhaps the rest of their outfits could be found in the large leather backpacks, shaped like garbage bags, that were carried at arm's length by other models.
3 | Darkness dominated
In terms of palette, black dominated the show. The first half of the collection was stocked with silhouettes that reflected the atmosphere of the set-up: dark, sober, and rigorous. Demna's attachment to the subcultures of the 1990s and 2000s, however, was writ large in the second part of the collection which consisted of sportier, techno-driven looks. One model, for instance, wore a jungle jacket and voluminous oversized pants, while white, military-inspired pieces were presented as "a celebration of fearlessness, resistance and the victory of love and peace" with only a black bag and shoes worn in monochromatic contrast.
Instagram content
This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.
4 | Demna played with Balenciaga codes
Bug-eyed black glasses, tapered waders, and oversized cuts: all the Balenciaga codes, as reinterpreted by Demna, were present and correct. Indeed, Demna's AW/22 vision for the brand he helms was full to bursting with turtleneck tops, unstructured hoodies – shrunken or generously enlarged – in addition to belts made of Balenciaga branded packing tape. Elsewhere, a coat made from EPHEATM, a fake leather created from mushrooms, demonstrated the brand's decision to move away from selling products made with materials of animal origin.
Demna's traditional Balenciaga codes also gave way to new standards: some men were sent onto his Baltic runway wearing strapless tops, others in thigh-high boots with blazers and hoodies that provided generous volume. Within all the darkness, it seemed as though Demna was having fun blurring the lines between genres, all the while allowing the house of Balenciaga to remain militantly committed to the pursuit of modernity.
