Photo-Illustration: by The Cut; Photos: Courtesy of Balenciaga
The designer known simply as Demna has done much to change fashion over the past decade since becoming the creative director of Balenciaga. He beefed up bodies with his oversize tailoring and fat sneakers. He set the standard for how to modernize a great Paris house, one that, in his words, had “a beautiful but somewhat claustrophobic heritage.” He did that by injecting more of his own ideas, especially in streetwear. The result was a much bigger and more dynamic business. He confronted political questions like climate change and the trappings of power; and, for me, the fact that Demna came from Georgia, a onetime Soviet state, gave him a perspective — on freedom, luxury, oppression — that none of his peers could possibly have. And he further expanded notions of beauty with his distinct cast of models, opening (or closing) nearly every show with the lanky, bespectacled artist Eliza Douglas and including many regulars along the way, like Mintuu and Yuri. He once put two of his college teachers in his cast, not to mention his mom.
It was that sense of community that came through most strongly on Wednesday in the couture house of Cristóbal Balenciaga on Avenue Georges V as Demna showed his last collection. On Monday, he leaves Paris and will get to work on his next project, Gucci. (His first show for the Milan brand will be next March.) It’s not an exaggeration to say that Demna created a world at Balenciaga, not merely an aesthetic.
In the minutes before the noon show, the hour of mass in the Catholic church — a nod to Balenciaga’s faith as well as, perhaps, his religious references — guests milled around the small white rooms that comprise the salon, which Demna reopened in 2021 after a break of more than 50 years. There were clients in full kit and Cardi B and Lorde, in a silvery mesh column. Nicole Kidman, in a black pantsuit, dashed across the carpet to her seat. The mood was expectant but also incredibly relaxed and cheery due to the way the house and the PR team (led by Robin Meason) generally handle things, without excessive pomp.
Then, around 12:20 p.m., things got underway. Just as in his first couture show in 2021, the models walked in silence, with the difference that now their names were called out. Yuri appeared in a stiff, creamy white tunic and matching long skirt. Actually, it soon became clear that the names, spoken in the individual’s own voice, were not only those of models but of others somehow important to Demna. It was a simple act that gained feeling with each name.
From left: Photo: Courtesy of Balenciaga/ Photo: Courtesy of Balenciaga/
From top: Photo: Courtesy of Balenciaga/ …
From top: Photo: Courtesy of Balenciaga/ Photo: Courtesy of Balenciaga/
Within moments of the first four or five looks, all superbly and sharply tailored, with moderately exaggerated lapels or shoulders constructed to thrust slightly forward, I was struck again by Demna’s ability to reveal something new about the form. If you think about it, there is really no reason for haute couture, for clothes that cost upward of six figures, unless the designer can make a case for their relevance. And that’s what Demna has done from the start. He’s made an argument for a modern elegance, one based almost entirely on silhouette and proportions — which, in his case, are always a little off. There is a sense of irony, but not too much. And it’s not about fabulous technique and embellishment, all that stuff. Rather, it’s about a cut or a shape that suddenly redefines the form, whether it’s a tailored suit or a hoodie.
From left: Photo: Courtesy of Balenciaga/ Photo: Courtesy of Balenciaga/
From top: Photo: Courtesy of Balenciaga/ …
From top: Photo: Courtesy of Balenciaga/ Photo: Courtesy of Balenciaga/
Photo: Courtesy of Balenciaga/
Miren Arzalluz, the director of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, and an expert on the work of Cristóbal Balenciaga, was among the guests in the salon. She told me later that she thought back to Demna’s first couture collection, which — along with his last — is probably his best work. I would agree, adding that there was an effortlessness to this one.
Additionally, there shaded reflections on Parisian chic, notably the tight-pants-and-sweater look worn by the actress Isabelle Huppert, a purse hooked on her arm, her expression chill and vague, and on Hollywood glamour, summed up by Kim Kardashian’s blush and feathery ode to Elizabeth Taylor as Maggie in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. He also showed a frothy, pale-pink gown in the lightest fabric possible.
From left: Photo: Courtesy of Balenciaga/ Photo: Courtesy of Balenciaga/
From top: Photo: Courtesy of Balenciaga/ …
From top: Photo: Courtesy of Balenciaga/ Photo: Courtesy of Balenciaga/
For the men’s clothes, Demna worked with a tailor in Naples, Italy. He explained later, in the mobbed backstage, that he’d seen a documentary on Neapolitan tailoring and was curious. So he sent a cast member, a bodybuilder named John, to Naples to be fitted for a suit. John made four trips. Then Demna put the exact same suit on other body types in the show. Naturally, on small or skinny guys the suit assumed a different character; on one or two men, it recalled moments in the movie Big.
From left: Photo: Courtesy of Balenciaga/ Photo: Courtesy of Balenciaga/
From top: Photo: Courtesy of Balenciaga/ …
From top: Photo: Courtesy of Balenciaga/ Photo: Courtesy of Balenciaga/
Demna said, “I wanted to underline this idea that it’s not the garment that defines the silhouette, but the body that wears the garment.”
In design as well as presentation it was a great end to one’s story at a Paris house, an extraordinarily rich one. (He shot the lookbook for the collection around Paris.) Demna seemed to know that, too. For the first time, he came out for a bow, running from room to room as people stood and cheered.
From left: Photo: Courtesy of Balenciaga/ Photo: Courtesy of Balenciaga/
From top: Photo: Courtesy of Balenciaga/ …
From top: Photo: Courtesy of Balenciaga/ Photo: Courtesy of Balenciaga/
He later told reporters, “I’m so fucking hard on myself all the time, but this time I kind of owed it to me and to Balenciaga. I just felt I could not do better than this at Balenciaga, and it felt like a good time to move on to the next chapter.” Dressed in a hoodie and jeans with a baseball cap, he added with a laugh, “I feel like it’s my coming-out today. Literally, I’m very happy today. And I’ve never been so happy to see all of you. And thank you.”
