From the Chiasmus Archive: May 22nd 2022 "BALENCIAGA - RESORT 2023. NEW YORK CITY"
Demna Gsvalia has returned to his Doomsday ethos to which he excels at more than not, as noted with his striking Fall 2022 show which was held at the cusp of the global pandemic, when a micro entity that is not consciously aware of its actions, wreaked havoc on the human race. The virus set in motion our fears and anxieties, which in turn caused the pathogen to spread and due to asymmetrical vaccinations from poorer countries, the virus mutated into dominate strain/s. It brought out, generally speaking, the worst in us all, with economics and politics overriding the millions of lives lost, which were mostly the poor. The on and again and off again lockdowns and frantic reopening's of major economies, in which governments all along had an overall hesitancy in quarantining outbreaks prior to widespread vaccinations. Only galvanized the more extreme right wing elements of politics, that this was a conspiracy to control the masses with vaccines. When the reality was and still is: greed. This desire for attributed wealth, was the motivator to return us all back to so called normal and we were all in on it. No conspiracy. And there are two charts that one must study to realize this, the first, is the millions who died from COVID-19, the second, was when global stock markets, rallied after the global pandemic was declared . Both rose parabolically at the same time and over the two years since most of the world has bee vaccinated, one has plateaued, that being the human lives lost and the other is now falling - which are stock prices. Greed has since gone bust.
So, Demna hosting Balenciaga's Resort 2023 showing on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange seems fitting, at least from his antifashion stance, but Demna does skirt on that edge of contradiction, which is fine if one is honest in regards to their personal dispositions. And it can be said, that it is better to be aware of their contractionary behavior, rather than deluded by its impression. Such is the artist, who resides within the gray area of aesthetics, by commercializing those visual mediums, in her/his portrayal of a chaotic society, that by its definition is that contradiction. As we wrangle with the moral and immoral on a daily bases. And in lieu, it should be noted that Kering, the holding company of Balenciaga did extremely well during the height of the global pandemic with its share price peaking at 788 EUR, now with the global economy faltering as supply chains and inflation are pushing costs up, the price has since dropped to 450.
The invitation for the 'Wall Street' Balenciaga show were fake $100 bills, either Demna was offering a glimpse to the layman that inflation has and is starting to erode the value of wealth or could it be a sardonic poke at capitalism and the rarity of assets, to which Balenciaga is not a cheap product. Either way, the show must go on to which Demna offered as a clue to the latter, "...to make a product that is desirable, to create desire. That’s what fashion should do...", whilst inscribing his contradictory impressions by saying, "...We live in a terrifying world, and I think fashion is a reflection of that… I think it was quite urgent, a quite urgent show....".
In front of a select, maskless crowd, surrounded by flat screen trading monitors of companies and their share prices, walked Demna's latex glad, fully masked bondage inspired runway models adorning his Resort styles, which have keep in lockstep with his fine tailoring benchmark for Balenciaga, as noted with Demna's debut couture show . Yet, there is no doubt his latest show is firmly representing Demna's antithesis of fashion. The styles feel dark, not in any avant-garde stylization of gothic inclination, but rather sadomasochist, underground and subversive. It remains fixed in his horror-esque landscape, very much entailing Demna's "terrifying world" of trench coats and oversized blazers, excess and hell states, portrayed by our demonic reflections. With his Adidas collaboration at the tail end of the collection, offering, paradoxically a grounded appeal, while immersing itself into a tipping point of a society that not only has broken down, but is in complete disarray. With no counter culture to guide it out.
Are we at the end?
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(A.Glass 2022)
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