EXCERPT: BALENCIAGA PRE-FALL 2023.
"...Demna's simulacrum of 90's artistic romanticism, is just that, a romantic inclination of an era that came and went. If Demna's homage to the 1980's and 1990's is portrayed as an overpriced destroyed sneaker, it would be Kering, the holding company for Balenciaga that appears so far to be writing blank cheques for Demna's artfulness of the Balenciaga brand name. So the questions have to be asked. Is Demna's clothing for Balenciaga considered art work? And why would I collect it?
On April 17th 2023, the German urban designer studio 'Sub' was commissioned by Kering, under the guidance of Demna to design a Balenciaga store in Hamburg, Germany, to which the Pre-fall 2023 lookbook appears to have been photographed. A stripped back and raw space, that is not stylized Brutalism in its design but rather an impression of decayed urbanism as in a worn looking underground carpark and a weather beaten factory space, which includes curtains made to look water damaged. Demna's Balenciaga in its overall concept holds an attractive absurdism, that as a viewer one may look through the hype and see an obvious duplication of artistic concepts. A luxury brand infusing itself with decay and deconstruction, where if one wishes could take and rework themselves without buying into the Balenciaga product."
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(A.Glass 2023)
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