EXCERPT: BALENCIAGA FALL 2024. COUTURE - PARIS

"...Yet, can Demna, who has only recently encroached onto Couture, by utilizing the Balenciaga brand name, respectfully fulfil the Balenciaga couture legacy?  Of course he doesn't.  And nor would Demna, controlling Balenciaga as a modern day rework of timelines, attempt to fit the brand into any respectfully Couture or artisan project.  Only offering, in its redundancy, the popular culture of hyperreal, which he has intended Balenciaga to become.  Portraying that elusive counterculture, which does not exist.  Sans, a social media feed.  So, essentially this is not a Couture collection by any measure, but a redux of countless Balenciaga showpieces.  Only defined under the couture rules, to which the 35 person workmanship is required to create 'Black Metal' style prints, and postmodern-esque fashion graduate pieces, whilst utilizing recycled offcuts from the piles of disused materials.

Demna's Balenciaga's oversized, overlaying and stuffy looks are abundant with this 'couture' collection, the facial masks of bird feathers, butterflies are overly exaggerated.  Almost in a mocking way of Cristóbal Balenciaga's ballroom gown accessories, to which Demna, towards the end of the collection shows the possibility in maintaining at least some homage to Cristóbal, by showcasing his Couture styled gowns."

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Full review:  chiasmusmagazine.blogspot.com/2024/07/balenciaga-fall-2024-couture-paris.html 

(A.Glass 2024)