Balenciaga Haute Couture F/W 2021.22 Paris

To me this whole show is problematic. Due to the production, everything seemed to be artificial. The cast, the silence, the restored salon that looks so fake, everything made an impression of parody. And it's not something I'd like to see at Balenciaga Couture. They might be ironic with their ready-to-wear, but it's completely out of place in the couture salon.

What really strikes me is that Balenciaga have been trying to present their couture as a solely creative venture. However, the basic bags exposed their marketing motivations. It's a marketing exercise and they don't care about the traditions of couture or craft. It's a vanity project to have fancy content for their Instagram profile. With the bags, I'm sure they want to release a capsule of "couture" for hypebeasts.

When it comes to the clothes, this collection could have been way worse. There are beautiful silhouettes and interesting propositions that are rooted in the archives. For example, I wish Demna went for the direction of the last look. That wedding gown is just wonderful. There are other strong looks such as #17, #23 or #62. However, I really don't like the tailored pieces and feel quite disappointed by them. Demna is a skilled tailor, and the proportions are just too off for my liking. The worst part is the Japanese denim and the tracksuits. Both parts show that Gvasalia doesn't understand the historical context Cristobal's couture pieces live in. Cristobal is still the ultimate couture master, his pieces are almost worshiped and the tracksuits seem to be really disrespectful to his heritage, not in a cool way. But of course it's Demna so we should have predicted that. Also, the menswear should have been edited out. It's a complete non-event.

Overall, it's a massive hit or miss. I hope with the next collection they won't overkill the presentation as much as with this one and Demna will tone down his weird aspirations to produce couture tote bags and ugly denim pants.
 
There are some really exceptional looks here but I would have liked to see more couture and a lot less streetwear. I get Demna was probably trying to be all modern and edgy but it kind of just ruined the mood. I also felt like he was playing it too safe when there was so much potential.
 
Kind of exactly what I expected. Loooveeee look #23 tho. And #63 too!
 
Couture bathrobes, anyone?

Even making the most effort not to be biased, it is hard to make this pass as couture or to think that the likes of Mona Bismarck would have even touched in passing such clothes.

It's not like Demna had scant time to think it over and give us something new...I feel like there was a huge disconnect between the few convincing, archive inspired looks and his usual Vetements tropes (of which he really seems to be unable to let go), with very little to make you think that his language has evolved or uttered something really new. Yet look #59 is there to prove that, when he wants, he manages to merge the couture and the streetwear lexicons in compelling ways.
It also struck me, as I was watching the video, how pained some of the models looked as they dragged those cumbersome volumes in probably the most uncomfortable shoes in history...when in fact Cristobal's work, even under the extreme shape experimentations, really liberated the body and gave maximum ease of movement to the wearers.
 
There are some really exceptional looks here but I would have liked to see more couture and a lot less streetwear. I get Demna was probably trying to be all modern and edgy but it kind of just ruined the mood. I also felt like he was playing it too safe when there was so much potential.

I think we should remember that couture/haute couture, by definition, is basically clothing that is made by hand from start to using fine fabrics and specific techniques. It is NOT what type of clothes someone designs.

So, seeing a lot of these pieces up close and in person as well as understanding the time spent constructing each garment, would surely make them couture. A tracksuit can be couture, the same way a gown can be.

Now, whether or not you agree with the type of pieces shown, is a different story. Given his mission, I don't think it was bad. The clothes are more or less what I expected and everything looks really well done.
 
This collection can be good if it was only 18 looks. Who in this world is asking for Normcore couture. Seriously who would go to a couture salon to get a pair of jeans. To think that Mr. Balenciaga himself closed his house because he doesn't want to do RTW only for his successor to sent out jeans couture bear his name. And the bags and hats are just gimmicky

But I love look 62 (very Dior Fall couture 2014 but more practical) and the wedding dress only because it's a replica archive.

This make me wish Nicolas have a chance to do couture for Balenciaga.
 
You can tell Demna tried to please Cristóbal Balenciaga fans; and his Vetements fans (if they still exist out there).

At the end is just an strange mixture between archival pieces and Demna´s trademark Frankenstein looks.

But...I like the jacket from look 19. I wish the whole collection would have followed the direction of that jacket. But is Demna...so that wasn´t going to happen.

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I am so mad because if Demna truly wanted to do an HC collection, it would have been very great. But no, it is RTW disguised as HC. The usual unnecessary theatrics he likes to pull made me uncomfortable - the silence, the casting, the hair, the menswear.

I would rather have 20 looks tops but perfectly executed, truly HC, and with his cold streetwear approach. The latest looks were divine and look 17 was to die for.

I usually ignore HC but I challenge myself to style this collection in an editorial now because in the end, I kind of like it.
 
I weirdly really enjoyed the show. I loved the 20 minutes before the show when we could see the visitors coming in. The silence with the footsteps while the models walked was a little comical, but slowly grew on me. What I wish Demna had done (which I feel a lot of other designers should do to but that's another conversation) is added more personality in the walks. Choosing to present in the Salon (where the restoration didn't seem complete, btw even if that was the vibe they were going for) and not having the models enjoy the clothes they were wearing felt extremely bland. In fact, I felt some of them even looked afraid, but I'm just going to assume that that's their default expression that got them selected to walk for Balenciaga in the first place. I just subconsciously expected the old couture shows with models smiling and twirling as they walked around, but then I reminded myself that Demna's Balenciaga is the farthest from that haha.

Some pieces from the collection really stood out for me. You can see Demna staying true to Balenciaga's aesthetic, while still creating Haute Streetstyle. It's definitely elevated Balenciaga RTW, but I'm there's enough technique and skill involved (that I don't really know how to learn about) to call it haute couture.
 
Neither terrific nor terrible: The orange suit was compelling as was his use of feathers on that opera coat, the tweed dress with ragged edges was quite fine too. Weirdly enough these clothes look much better in pictures than in movement, it was kind of painful how heavy the floor length coats with matching stoles were...wrong fabric choice. I believe Balenciaga should stand for something more depurated, he can leave the piling of yards of fabric to Pierpaolo.

In regards to comfort...the elderly woman that looked like she was about to faint from the exhaustion of moving in a tightly cinched rubber trenchcoat was darkly comical...the squeaks awkardly resonating through the room.

For me it was alright, tons of unnecessary looks but a few that stood out positively, the hats...I would have gone for something else since Thierry Mugler did them to death 20 years ago. They really shouldn't have built the expectations so high.

P.S. The pre-show recording was also good fun, Enninful being all hugs and smiles with the boss' wife (Salma Hayek) and Wintour rolling her eyes right behind him. Quality content.
 
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I have always loved Demna's work and this collection is no exception - It tries to see Couture in a different light, give it a sense of Modernity that is so often missing in all the sugarcoated Creamtarts usually on display during Couture week. That said it all feels very hard and joyless, which to me makes it feel strangely dated. It is like a better executed, more refined Balenciaga RTW Collection ( at least judging from the photos), and this kind of harshness, void of any kind of emotion or exuberance feels slightly out of place, like from another era
 
Some interesting tidbits from British Vogue:

Couture Jeans and Tees
Tackling the denim trouser, Gvasalia went to its most authentic American roots – via suppliers in Thailand and Japan – to find the finest fabric, and forged the buttons of jeans in real silver. Don’t even get him started on how he couturified the humble T-shirt: “It was the hardest piece for me to make. I suffered for three months. It’s much easier to make a ballroom dress with embroidery, or even a tailored jacket.” He constructed it architecturally around the body and hand-crafted it in thick, luxe satin.

Salons, Silence, and Mannequins
Gvasalia showed his collection in complete silence, in tribute to the absence of noise that had birthed it during lockdown, and because Balenciaga himself worked in silence. It refocused attention on the garments, but also on his exceptionally diverse cast, who embodied the designer’s idea of who a couture client could be today.

"I don’t like standardised beauty in general,” he pointed out. “Wearing those kinds of clothes is very new for most of these people, because they have their own style and attitude. But somehow, it gave them this posture that is built-in. And this is what couture does.”

When those clients come to Balenciaga to place their couture orders in the future, fittings will happen in the salons where Gvasalia presented his show, restored and purposely aged to look exactly the way Cristobal left them in 1968. “His spirit is somewhere in these walls,” said the designer, who also imbued his garments with the trace of time. “It’s the decay that I always find very beautiful, much more beautiful than something new and freshly made.”

Source: British Vogue
 
Also if anyone is interested, the look descriptions with materials/techniques etc. are on Balenciaga's website! There is a lot of vicuña wool lol

Also here is Demna's note

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FIFTY-THREE YEARS HAVE PASSED SINCE CRISTÓBAL BALENCIAGA CLOSED THE DOORS OF HIS HOUSE, LARGELY DUE TO THE BIRTH OF READY-TO-WEAR, WHICH QUESTIONED THE RAISON D'ÊTRE FOR THE CONCEPT OF HAUTE COUTURE.

OVER HALF A CENTURY LATER I SEE IT AS MY CREATIVE OBLIGATION TO THE UNIQUE HERITAGE OF M. BALENCIAGA TO BRING THE COUTURE BACK TO HIS HOUSE. IT IS THE VERY FOUNDATION OF THIS CENTURY-OLD MAISON.

THE RE-LAUNCH OF A COUTURE LINE WILL OFFER THE HIGHEST CREATIVE AND QUALITATIVE LEVEL OF PRODUCT TO OUR CUSTOMER, AS WELL AS COMPLETE MY MULTI-LAYERED VISION FOR BALENCIAGA THE BRAND, WHICH RANGES ALL THE WAY UP FROM STREETWEAR INTO CONCEPTUAL FASHION AND WARDROBE AND ULTIMATELY INTO ONE-OF-A-KIND, MADE-TO-MEASURE COUTURE PIECES.

COUTURE IS ABOVE TRENDS, FASHION, AND INDUSTRIAL DRESSMAKING. IT IS A TIMELESS AND PURE EXPRESSION OF CRAFT AND THE ARCHITECTURE OF SILHOUETTE THAT GIVES A WEARER THE STRONGEST NOTION OF ELEGANCE AND SOPHISTICATION.

COUTURE IS THE HIGHEST LEVEL OF GARMENT CONSTRUCTION, THAT IS NOT ONLY RELEVANT IN TODAY'S MASS-PRODUCTIVE INDUSTRY, BUT EVEN ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY FOR THE SURVIVAL AND FURTHER EVOLUTION OF MODERN FASHION DESIGN.

I INVITE YOU TO DISCOVER AND ENJOY THIS TRIBUTE TO THE LEGACY OF CRISTÓBAL BALENCIAGA AND MY VERY PERSONAL VISION OF THE ESSENCE OF FASHION.

LOVE, DEMNA
 
The best looks of this collection are those that he references the archive of Cristobal Balenciaga, which is immense and treasurable, while the rest are Demna's typical looks for this brand since day one. He has done a better job than Virginie and Maria Grazia for sure!
 
The tailored looks and the evening looks and the more classical couture looks are quite nice. Elegant, sophisticated, chic.

He really should have done without the sport elements and the denim, to be honest. It's like designers today cannot help themselves with gimmicks like that...everything has to be street, street, street...it's such an annoying tick at this point. Heaven forbid anyone just do something elevated for once??? Street can be an attitude...it doesn't have to mean...TRACK SUIT.

What I think is the problem, though, is that I feel like this is what the RTW should look like...or maybe what needs to happen is his shows need to combine RTW and Couture and just keep everything more elevated in mood like this. Like how Nicolas' collections were really Demi-Couture...which was a nice balance of salable pieces and show pieces. I miss that era of fashion...the Demi-Couture era....
 

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