From the chiasmus archive: " Balenciaga. Spring 2022. Ready-to-Wear. Paris Fashion Week. October 6th, 2021" *In lieu of Demna Gvasalia stepping down from Balenciaga, after ten years, with his last couture showing for the iconic fashion brand occuring on July 9th 2025. I will be posting all of my Balenciaga reviews of the last 10 years*
(Images: Balenciaga 2021)
Demna Gvasalia returning to the runway after the Balenciaga Couture showing for the famous fashion house is of course in lieu of the beginning of the end of Covid-19 restrictions via vaccinations across Europe, we could be at the cusp of this pandemic slowly ending. Or maybe not. With asymmetrical vaccine rollouts and $$$ antiviral pill treatments on the cards, the exclusivity of vaccinated countries over others that are struggling to vaccinate may offer a clue in all of its reality, that the pandemic is still chugging on over year and half later. And it is Demna, that, through his antithesis fashion psyche, has always been able offer a sardonic infusion within the crafted arrays for Balenciaga. A high end fashion protestation which has have been cleverly orchestrated since he took the creative reigns from Alexander Wang in 2015, after leaving his own fashion company Vetements, Demna debuted his Balenciaga Fall collection in 2016. Now 33 seasons in with a Couture showing under his belt, it is no wonder that Kering, the holding company of Balenciaga, has given Demna a blank cheque to stage these impressive seasonal showcases.
And his Spring 2022 showing is of no exception, in fact, in reflection to the last four shows, it would seem that a snapback from a year long quarantines has invigorated Demna to try and top every season since the start of this pandemic in 2020, with a billion dollar worth company front running the Georgian designer, these are no DIY inspired efforts that his former company Vetements flirted with. Moving away from the couture show, that after 56 years in hiatus, was an impressive and respectful display by Demna to the late Cristóbal Balenciaga, the latest Spring collection holds true to the rag tag team of models that he uses as they flood onto the red carpet in a mock awards show, slash Paris Fashion Week runway. Playing around with the themes of a Met Gala and Oscars celebrations, the hyper-reality and anti-fashion that Demna uses and in some cases it can be overstated by the opulence that is promoted, he is focused once again in redefining runway shows. However, it is the the paradox of backdrop aesthetics which are fascinating to view, with the clothes seen as an expensive dress rehearsal in setting down, with what could be seen as Demna’s alternative reality to the reality that we view, which is his subtle and at the same time excessive critique of social media in all of its cult celebrity delusions.
Demna’s ‘Hollywood‘ showing, incorporating, as mentioned, the red carpet exposé, but also the cartoon sarcasm of The Simpsons, to which, Demna, via Balenciaga has been able to merge as a popular culture reference. Quite an achievement, according to Demna, as he has been a lifelong fan of the show fusing his hyper-real world onto the 34 year old animated series. Yet, it is these boulevard-of-broken-dreams representatives which are Demna’s phantasmal team of models that I find the most enthralling, dressed in his take of fine tailored fashion and street styles mixed with an anti-fashion ethos. They walk the red carpet as though they have arrived from another Universe, it just works so well. There is most definitely a bizarre twist to all this, a contradiction that is neatly weaved into the designer brand.
Undoubtedly the residual of Demna’s couture showing has imprinted into his latest collection and it is an exceptional array, almost flawless in design, with styling that is outstanding as is the overall themed presentation. With 64 looks in total, it is not the biggest collection for a seasonal show, to which Demna has refined and kept his stylizations to further cultivate his idea of a futurist and modernist look. These are not avant-garde pieces, but rather are a unique take on conservative styles; broken apart and then fitted back together in a leaner form.
Brilliantly executed within its visually diagrammatic contrasts.
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(A.Glass 2021)
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