The end of two weeks of controversy for Balenciaga.
Demna Gvasalia, the brand's artistic director, apologized "personally" on Friday after a campaign involving children and sexually connoted accessories embarrassed the house, which announced that it was abandoning any legal action.
“I want to personally apologize for the bad artistic choice (…) and I assume my responsibility”, wrote on Instagram the Georgian stylist.
"If I sometimes wanted to provoke through my work, I never intended to do so with a subject as horrible as child abuse, which I condemn," he continues.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Balenciaga by Demna (@demnagram)
Master in provocation and author of disturbing fashion shows carrying societal messages, Demna is in the hot seat after a recent advertising campaign by Balenciaga, which belongs to the luxury giant Kering.
On some images, removed more than a week ago, we could see a child, standing on a sofa, or on a bed which holds like a comforter a bag in the shape of a teddy bear, strapped with black belts inspired by the BDSM, sadomasochistic sexual practices.
Balenciaga hizo una promotional campaña que a priori no parecía rara, pero de pronto la gente se empezó a quejar porque los niños que aparecían en estas photos sostenían plushies con atuendos que parecían BDSM.
pic.twitter.com/4i5rQ9DHGQ
— Juanito Say (@JuanitoSay) December 1, 2022
Balenciaga muse, American star Kim Kardashian said on Twitter that she would "re-evaluate" her relationship with the luxury brand after the campaign.
Internet users have also noted that in another photo, a bag resulting from a collaboration with Adidas is placed in an office setting, on documents which are printed with extracts from a decision of the American Supreme Court on child pornography.
Balenciaga evokes its "full responsibility"
For this episode, Balenciaga, while taking "full responsibility for the lack of monitoring and control", said earlier this week that it had "filed a complaint" for "the inclusion of these unvalidated documents, the result of irresponsible negligence". .
The house's general manager, Cédric Charbit, finally announced that Balenciaga "has decided not to take legal action", in a press release posted Friday evening on Instagram, where he also apologizes "personally".
According to the New York Post, the complaint, filed in the New York courts, was directed against the production house North Six and the decorator Nicholas Des Jardins and claimed 25 million dollars in damages.
For Balenciaga, this controversy comes at a bad time, because the brand had already had to cut ties in October with rapper Kanye West after his anti-Semitic excesses.
Three weeks earlier, he had opened the Balenciaga fashion show in Paris.