No decor, no distinguished guest in the front row, even less celebrity on the podium.
Sunday March 5, the Balenciaga fall-winter 2023-2024 show was placed under the sign of sobriety.
And for good reason, this is the first event of the brand led by the designer Demna since the controversy that shook it last December.
The label of the Kering group suffered a wave of indignation and boycott following the publication of advertising campaigns first pinned by the American far right before going viral.
From then on, the artistic director, who had accustomed his public to monumental installations, like his last parades under the blizzard or in the mud, and to the appearances of his muses like Kim Kardashian, clearly showed his intention to refocus on the 'essential :
Profession of faith
The invitation, an authentic jacket pattern sent the day before the show, announced the essentialist approach.
It is confirmed on the spot by a note of intent.
During Paris Fashion Week in September, a few weeks before the scandal, Demna had announced that he would no longer give explanations about his work.
Today the situation has changed.
The designer takes us into the intimacy of his memory to evoke the first pants made for him by a tailor: a childhood memory that has become, since the media storm, a “refuge for his love of fashion”.
And if Demna evokes the child that he was, (the Balenciaga brand has been singled out for campaigns featuring children), it is to better deplore a fashion “that has become a kind of fun”.
First a founding myth, then a fundamental reflection, the note ends with a breakthrough speech: “Fashion should no longer be seen as entertainment, but as the art of making clothes”.
Picture proof.
Back to basics
On the podium, the proposal speaks for itself.
The Balenciaga fall-winter 2023-2024 collection is a succession of clothes with constructed cuts, with the idea of body transformation as a watermark.
The accents are placed on the drapes and the monumental shoulders, with a distinct roundness.
The registers, as always with Demna, collide: the impressive femininity of the large metallic and sequined evening dresses alternates with the disturbing strangeness of the silhouettes with technical boots and intriguing volumes.
No need to look for the next collaboration or the next viral accessory, leather trash bag or other diversion of consumer products.
Demna takes fashion on a different note.