{"id":12998,"date":"2023-03-07T23:24:49","date_gmt":"2023-03-07T23:24:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/frontrowedit.co.uk\/?p=12998"},"modified":"2023-03-07T23:24:49","modified_gmt":"2023-03-07T23:24:49","slug":"is-balenciaga-back-on-the-fashion-map","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/frontrowedit.co.uk\/is-balenciaga-back-on-the-fashion-map\/","title":{"rendered":"IS BALENCIAGA BACK ON THE FASHION MAP?"},"content":{"rendered":"

After THE<\/a> controversy \u2013 which became an unprecedented case study that polarised the fashion industry \u2013 that escalated in the second half of December and continued to be dynamically scrutinised in the beginning of 2023, Balenciaga and Demna are back.. and cautiously at that.<\/span><\/p>\n

The autumn-winter 2023 fashion show was provocation-free: just a white-cube venue and models in clothes, with no sociopolitical context playing in the background or a performative, highly-viral shock value. Stripping back to the fundamentals of design has been a thrust of this latest round of shows, but nowhere was the extreme tension between those two poles felt more sharply than at this show. Demna\u2019s explanation and apology, with information about the brand\u2019s plans for internal reform and its offer of reparation through a three-year partnership with the National Children\u2019s Alliance was published by Vogue<\/em> in early February. \u201cI needed to have a show because I need to move on. I need to liberate myself \u2013 through my work, and what I do, and put it out there,<\/em>\u201d he\u2019d said in a one-on-one conversation held at Balenciaga headquarters in the days before the show. \u201cBecause it has been a hell three months, and I really don\u2019t know how I had the strength in me, mentally, to go through it.<\/em>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"is-balenciaga-back-on-the-fashion-map\"<\/span><\/p>\n

The choice he made was to ditch his mega-set methodology and showcase his personal bid for reputational integrity as a designer. \u201cIt had overshadowed the collections \u2013 most people didn\u2019t see the clothes even when it was packed with great clothes. You know, I just felt almost like [I was] betraying that by doing those kinds of set designs, because the most important thing for me in my work was being overshadowed by 15 minutes of buzzy concept. I was like, I was like, \u2018Okay, I need to change that anyway,\u2019<\/em>\u201d he said. \u201cAnd this whole situation <\/em>just<\/em> confirmed to me that it cannot be about that anymore. I love doing that. But I don\u2019t love doing that more than making clothes and I felt like I needed to put this in focus. It came together with something that truly represents me as a designer. I feel like this is the message I want to give: This is who I am<\/em>.\u201d Who he is, and where he is now: it was hard not to read the imagery of a world turned upside down in the makings of the long, somber sequence of 17 black oversized tailoring looks that opened the show. Black is a Balenciaga core non-shade; it syncs with the mood of fashion at large, and it was a reminder that Demna was, after all, the progenitor of the super-sizing that\u2019s swept fashion in the last decade. Nothing new there. What was different: all these pieces were constructed from reverse-tailored trousers. There were coats and jackets with pant-loops and pockets in the hems. And below them hung doubled pairs of trousers, giving, from the side, the surreal illusion that the people were walking on four legs. In the next part of the collection, Demna refocused on Crist\u00f3bal Balenciaga\u2019s legacy. \u201cEvolving it is the number one reason why I am here,<\/em>\u201d as he\u2019d commented to Vogue<\/em> earlier.<\/span><\/p>\n

Shorn of distractions, critically, the collection could be seen as a hybrid of Demna-isms \u2013 cyber-avatar menswear, his familiar flower-printed knife-pleated dresses \u2013 segueing into more of a distinct homage to the founder\u2019s archival evening gowns. These were long, slim, covered-up dresses, minutely embellished, and with a new signature rounded-bump of a shoulder line. Aside from the styling, there is one far more radical change on the way for Balenciaga. It was heralded only by its absence \u2013 the fact that the clothes and accessories were wiped clean of logos. The attraction of highly visible branding has been part and parcel of the cult of Balenciaga that Demna has brought to popular street culture everywhere. \u201cIt\u2019s a big thing<\/em>,\u201d he admitted. \u201cBut I think we\u2019re going to enter the stage in my work where it doesn\u2019t need to be justified by the brand on it. To be honest, it\u2019s necessary, and I use this opportunity now to convince that this is the right thing to do. And of course, you know, doing that means not doing it only once. You have to persist to be able to change.<\/em>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After THE controversy \u2013 which became an unprecedented case study that polarised […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13000,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[524,906],"tags":[71,17],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nIS BALENCIAGA BACK ON THE FASHION MAP?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"After THE controversy \u2013 which became an unprecedented case study that polarised the fashion industry \u2013 that escalated in the second half of\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/frontrowedit.co.uk\/is-balenciaga-back-on-the-fashion-map\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"IS BALENCIAGA 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