Demna Gvasalia - Designer, Creative Director of Balenciaga

[khoinguyen666]

In Paris too, empty shops ... I mean there are "riots" and some garbage in the streets but last Saturday people were still queuing or waiting for their appointment at Chanel, Goyard, LV, Loewe, Celine (perfume shop or flagship), YSL (Rive Droite), Hermès, even Bottega Veneta, but yes the Balenciaga ones were very empty.

I was just in Paris a few weeks ago and all the Balenciaga stores I saw were empty. Also, I went to Galleries Lafayette Haussmann and I noticed that the Balenciaga booths had RTW instead of the typical branded hoodies. DIdn't see anybody there either.

Interestingly, Balenciaga was supposed to have a Supreme collab come out and photos just leaked

 

[plentyofhorns]

These lines are so humiliating, why is it even seen as good PR .. waiting for a table is fine, but lining up on a sidewalk for fashion, or carbs (like for something grotesque like a circular croissant)? have some self-respect and just order online where no one can see you!

I see the Balenciaga logo at least once a day in ny, to the point it's made me wonder if it's all on discount somewhere, this and that Marc Jacobs' 'the tote bag'.. I swear people are getting this for less than $50 somewhere, where? I don't know. I actually saw someone at the gym rolling on the floor in a Balenciaga w-h-i-t-e sweatshirt over the weekend. What's up with that? can't imagine ever taking Ghesquière's Balenciaga to a gym and wiping all the candida auris with it.

the marc jacobs tote is getting out of control in NYC!!! I will say, balenciaga cagole bags are still one of the most popular I see. it helps that most tucker carlson watchers won’t be able to clock them

 

[LadyJunon]

the marc jacobs tote is getting out of control in NYC!!! I will say, balenciaga cagole bags are still one of the most popular I see. it helps that most tucker carlson watchers won’t be able to clock them

It's smart that they thought to re-release their only current bag without any (obvious) logo in its design the year prior to the incident. We can thank Ghesquière for that.

 

[Mutterlein]

I was just in Paris a few weeks ago and all the Balenciaga stores I saw were empty. Also, I went to Galleries Lafayette Haussmann and I noticed that the Balenciaga booths had RTW instead of the typical branded hoodies. DIdn't see anybody there either.

Interestingly, Balenciaga was supposed to have a Supreme collab come out and photos just leaked

I think both brands have lost a bit of cache recently.

 

[Phuel]

At this point he needs to do something actually elevated kind of like his earlier collections

Unfortunately, he believes he did/has returned to an elevated fashion sensibility with that current collection LOL Thankfully with Alessandro’s Edina Monsoon x Dapper Dan homeschooled-wallflower gone, Demna’s too-rich LA children cosplaying as Skid Row residents will be next. This bizarro world era of fashion couldn't end sooner enough.

He’s talented, but he’s not even anywhere on the same stratosphere as the likes of Miuccia/Gaultier/Tom Ford in the late-90s/early-2000s, where their collections can still impact 25 years later with their sheer force of creative confidence, unmatchable fashion vision, and an effortless modernity that’s untarnished. Demna’s talent is on the level of Jeremy Scott— just that he’s more pandering and accepted by the masses. If I’m in a generous mood, maybe I’ll liken him to a Andy Warhol of fashion. Once stripped off his gimmicks and collabs, it’s just… passable merch. He’s someone that desperately relies on being the mood and attitude of the moment of the masses. Once he loses that support, he’s sort of just… overpriced merch. And the support has to diminish sooner or later— whether that (hilariously overblown) incident happened or not (even more hilarious that despite his supposed innocence, this corporation seemed to have admitted guilt by donating lotsa money to child services when accused of any wrongdoing LOL), his customers would have moved on, the same way that they— and himself, had moved on from his Vetements.

 

[Caffeine]

the marc jacobs tote is getting out of control in NYC!!! I will say, balenciaga cagole bags are still one of the most popular I see. it helps that most tucker carlson watchers won’t be able to clock them

I mean at least they are cute!

 

[Lola701]

When I see the images of the now cancelled Balenciaga/Supreme collab, I cannot help but to think about the amount of hideous clothes from the Demna era that will polute the pre-owned/ Vintage market.
The real issue with his designs is really the lack of timelessness…

For me his ultimate high was his first collection. In terms of pure clothes. Maybe the second can be considered good but really it’s lost.

 

[Phuel]

^^^ Pure clothes/high fashion doesn’t sell anywhere as well/fast as basic merch with gimmicky collabs in 2023. And his Balenciaga at the current state it’s offered at, (apparently) does a billionEUR/annually. His handlers are not willing to just let him and that earning go—no matter his trespasses, not yet anyway.

He has become the perfect definition of someone who’s sold his soul to the devil, for fame and fortune.

 

[Lola701]

^^^ Pure clothes/high fashion doesn’t sell anywhere as well/fast as basic merch with gimmicky collabs in 2023. And his Balenciaga at the current state it’s offered at, (apparently) does a billionEUR/annually. His handlers are not willing to just let him and that earning go—no matter his trespasses, not yet anyway.

He has become the perfect definition of someone who’s sold his soul to the devil, for fame and fortune.

This is the saddest thing ever actually…
Lately shopping a lot online, I’m buying a lot of Lanvin by Elbaz. More than trying to find clothes that I loved in shows, that I didn’t get to buy at the time and that I will wear, it’s also a way to build my personal archive.
What you get from his time at Lanvin is beautiful dresses, stunning dresses with fabulous construction but also very simple and almost plain in concept.
He was a great designer and it’s good just by seeing the pieces available that people recognized that.

I can still wear my Balenciaga by NG that i wore in my 20’s. I can still wear my Junya Watanabe pieces from 10 years ago.

The legacy of Demna at Balenciaga for me is really terrible. Logo nylon pieces, tshirts? Oversized jeans?
To imagine that he has so much love for Margiela…Margiela created something iconoclast. Beyond the hype behind the name, Margiela’s clothes stand the test of time.


I think that the controversy just accelerated the movement of something that was coming to an end. God knows how much I’m critical of Slimane’s approach to Celine but even beyond the branded merch, his clothes will still stand the test of time.

The real miss about Demna’s last collection was that he didn’t managed to make serious clothes exciting…While Vaccarello did. I’m sure they don’t have the same clientele because Vaccarello speaks more to me but I’m sure a woman in her 30’s would not want to wear one of those jackets Gvasalia presented.

 

[LadyJunon]

The real miss about Demna’s last collection was that he didn’t managed to make serious clothes exciting…While Vaccarello did. I’m sure they don’t have the same clientele because Vaccarello speaks more to me but I’m sure a woman in her 30’s would not want to wear one of those jackets Gvasalia presented.

Demna's weakness at Balenciaga is pretty the same as Michele's weakness at Gucci. They both allowed the success of one side to dictate the whole aesthetic of a company. Their look appears radical at first appearance, causing jumps in sales across the board, but cracks show the second the novelty wears off.

The last time I've seen women in Balenciaga IRL was back in 2017 to 2019 when they were really pushing the sock boots and the pantashoes. The broad shoulders jackets and cut up jeans were copied everywhere too.

I haven't seen anything like that "post-pandemic". I don't see women carrying any of Balenciaga's bags and purses. I don't see anything Balenciaga-esque being copied in stores.

The hyper-aggressive masculinity of Demna's Balenciaga just doesn't appeal to the women of today, who are actively seeking the polar opposite. Add the controversy (women are understandably very sensitive towards scandals concerning sexual deviancy/misconduct), and it can kill a good chunk of the business.

The legacy of Demna at Balenciaga for me is really terrible. Logo nylon pieces, tshirts? Oversized jeans? To imagine that he has so much love for Margiela…Margiela created something iconoclast. Beyond the hype behind the name, Margiela’s clothes stand the test of time.

I think that the controversy just accelerated the movement of something that was coming to an end. God knows how much I’m critical of Slimane’s approach to Celine but even beyond the branded merch, his clothes will still stand the test of time.

In all honestly, Demna has produced very good collections towards the beginning of his tenure and out of all of Reboot-Balenciaga's creative directors, he has the strongest debut collection, but he quickly fell into self-parody and the suits don't really know much better.

 

[Caffeine]

What you get from his time at Lanvin is beautiful dresses, stunning dresses with fabulous construction but also very simple and almost plain in concept.

And the silk he used...delicious!

 

[Phuel]

Demna's weakness at Balenciaga is pretty the same as Michele's weakness at Gucci. They both allowed the success of one side to dictate the whole aesthetic of a company. Their look appears radical at first appearance, causing jumps in sales across the board, but cracks show the second the novelty wears off.

Wonderfully put. They sold out to the lowest of common denominators in every sense, when they are more talented than the instantly-disposable pop merch that took over the brands. But frankly, who can say that they wouldn't do the same when they're in the same position... Everyone in fashion has an ego; it just depends on how big that ego gets that dictates one's own delusions of grandeur.

Lola: We have to remember the highly disposable fashion times we’re in— unfortunately. Margiela's sly, subtle and heavily nuanced designs may be heavily referenced, and tiresomely namdropped by everyone nowadays, but to succeed in the industry with his brand of fashion surrealism at the level that a corporation like Kering is willing to invest in, someone like Demna has to appeal to the mass customer base by turning high fashion into fast fashion (but still keeping the high fashion pricetags). Demna can spin all he wants on how to “fine-tune” an oversized tee all he wants, but it’s a tee (that resembles the ones homeless people wear). It’s nothing that requires the talent and skills of any fashion student’s first semester course LOL

 

[Mutterlein]

Genuinely nice and elegant clothes would be a radical departure.

 

[huedgrey]

Thankfully with Alessandro’s Edina Monsoon x Dapper Dan homeschooled-wallflower gone, .

curious about what u mean by Dapper Dan 'homeschooled-wallflower'

 

[Phuel]

^^^ Alessandro's designs/styling rip off the Christmas-tree look of Edina along with Dapper Dan’s knockoff of Gucci, with a cast of nerdy, gender-fluid looking children whom all resemble sheltered, coddled wallflowers.

Genuinely nice and elegant clothes would be a radical departure.

Depending on who you ask: what is elegance? In an era and for a generation where cheapness/gimmicks/flexing reigns supreme, it seems “elegance” is defined by drag: Just look at the latest cover of Vogue France… And more importantly to Kering, how is elegance defined to his Balencaiga customer-base so that it’ll be as profitably as his logo/monogram Balenciaga merch…??? He’s always had it in him for a certain “luxury” in design, and likely to an extend, classic, timeless elegance of design; his Couture offering was solid, and likely how the typical Balenciaga fashion victim/customer would idealize as “elegance". However, that offering would never translate to the now expected sales that Kering wants of him for Balenciaga RTW. Nor would his customer-base likely be convinced to buy into it so readily as they have for his RTW, since it’s a demographic that wants accessible gimmicks/collabs/normcore-as-high fashion basics.

He’s in such a tough, unenviable space of transition right now. HIs pop street fashions are all about disposable fads— that’s already looking/feeling past its expiration date. Like a tween pop princess evolving from their fickle fanbase, he has to tread so carefully, to an even more fickle customer-base and such a corporation looming over him. It’s easy to say to him to quit with his dignity and conviction intact, but he seems intent on grasping firmly onto his status quo. Frankly, if he’s never heard from and seen of again, I wouldn’t bat a lash. He will never be at the level of the Greats that I admire and respect.

His is however, a good cautionary tale for all the aspiring designers on how to handle ego, arrogance, humility— and the SM mob. (…And not attempt the enfant terrible image when you’re rather spineless.)

 

[bc collector]

For me Demna and elegance, in the same sentence, make an oxymoron.
It's just something that he knows nothing about. It's out of his grasp. And in a way, at the beginning of his career, that was also his strength: there was something hi-falutin in the way some commentators defined his approach "brutalist", but it made sense at the time, it was a gut reaction to the glossy, homogenized way fashion was presented.
I also wonder if, in these wretched times of aesthetic populism, elegance is still a word that can pronounce its name without fear of being branded as elitist.

Even at his best, like for his first RTW collection or his annual Couture outings, elegance is not a word that comes to my mind, especially if I consider his work beside that of the founder or Nicholas's (mind you, even poor Alexander Wang has done better than Demna in the elegance department...).

 

[Mutterlein]

Depending on who you ask: what is elegance?

How about any intelligent person with eyes.

 

[plentyofhorns]

balenciaga has been getting some good press for this video that they didn’t even make but I am admittedly obsessed with. it’s AI generated which is just insane! made an expensive shoot in minutes! the future is going to be so crazy

 

[GivenchyHomme]

Are we sure they didn’t make these as a way to get back into our good graces? The videos are almost too on the nose to be made by some random person on the internet. If it’s revealed to be a marketing ploy it’s absolutely brilliant.

 

[LadyJunon]

Are we sure they didn’t make these as a way to get back into our good graces? The videos are almost too on the nose to be made by some random person on the internet. If it’s revealed to be a marketing ploy it’s absolutely brilliant.

Funny enough, the clothes look more elegant than what Balenciaga has been offering as of late.