excerpt: Balenciaga. Couture 2025/2026 - Paris

 

"...Regardless, Demna who was relatively an unknown designer from Georgia, who descended onto the Paris fashion world in 2013, with his brother Guram, under their brand Vetements.  Did indeed, under Balenciaga, carve a niche for Kering.  Decreeing his anti-fashion ethos, within its 1990s Eastern European charm of reworking back to the Western Fashion world, a sardonic overture of knock offs, and imitation streetwear styles, to which has its roots from the East Europe rave scene of 35 years ago, where counterfeit ADIDAS, and other U.S., U.K., France sports brands held a lost-in-translation Westren allure, be it from their odd sizing, large fits, strange lettering and everything else in between.  Where a pair of original Nike sneakers were cherished for over a year, to become a gruppy, well worn, and tainted pair of sneakers, that saw a many underground raves in Tbilisi, Georgia.  Sound familiar?  Refer to Demna's 'destroyed' Balenciaga sneakers, that fetched prices over $2000 (USD).

And this is the point, the biggest earner for Kering was Gucci, and Demna, as mentioned, was able to niche the brand to be primarily focused towards young 20 something Chinese consumers, turning Balenciaga into a young adult, sardonic laced, anti-fashion street wear brand, was a brave move, despite it mirroring Vetements business model, it did pay off.  As 10 years in the Fashion world to be a creative director of a conglomerate owned band name, is a rare occurrence..."

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(A.Glass 2025)

Full review: chiasmusmagazine.blogspot.com/2025/07/balenciaga-couture-20252026-paris.html