Excerpt: Balenciaga. Fall 2025 - Paris Fashion Week

 

"...I have been reviewing Demna's Balenciaga since 2015, when Alexander Wang stepped down and Demna began to rework Balenciaga into his reworn 'destroyed' sneakers (at $2000USD), deconstructed styles, hyperreal in-jokes of Western consumerism, mixed with his homage to Eastern European 1990s underground raves, where everyone wore wearing Adidas 'fakes'.  Demna will leave Balenciaga after nearly Ten years, with a pocket filled with controversial ad campaigns and those extravagant backlash Balenciaga runway shows, as he moves across within the Kering corporation to the Gucci offices, under the watchful eye of Billionaire François-Henri Pinault (who owns Balenciaga and Gucci via Kering via Group Artemis).

Such is the turmoil that the luxury fashion industry is facing in lieu of rising operational costs, falling demand and a recession in China, Kering's number one market.  Also add to the mix Trump's tariffs on everything, and a looming European trade war with America, and anything else you can think of that could be on the horizon.  So, once again, if you correctly predicted that Demna was on the way out from Balenciaga to rescue Gucci.  Can you see any other dark clouds forming on the horizon?"

___

(A.Glass 2025)

Full review:  chiasmusmagazine.blogspot.com/2025/03/balenciaga-fall-2025-paris-fashion-week.html