Balenciaga Pre-Fall 2024 Los Angeles

[WAVES]

very weak collection.
Demna’s talent has proven to be limited unfortunately, unless he’s so drowned in his own gimmicks that he doesn’t allow himself to move forward.

it’s a shame. Balenciaga is and represents so much more.

 

[donyan]

It's Balenciaga by numbers but there is no denying of the strength of his vision, like it or not. It will appeal to those who have liked any other collection of the last few years, just like people keep on buying Rick Owens. These clothes are not for everyone, but if they hit the spot for those who buy into his vision.
I will always defend Demna because very few have managed what he has done, and I would much rather have someone with a clear point of view, even if it's incredibly polarising, than someone like the guy from Givenchy.

 

[Lola701]

I feel like KERING is in a trap…
They probably renewed Demna’s contract before the controversy…And now they are stuck with it.
Obviously, his aesthetic doesn’t seem to evolve and there’s a shift happening in fashion that will make this aesthetic not IT anymore. Yes, it will continue to appeal to some people and in a sense, because personal style in LA is either sweatpants or eveningwear, the venue was a right choice.

But Balenciaga is not moving needles in the industry anymore. The look doesn’t have a enduring and timeless appeal of Celine either..

Charbit is trying his hardest to keep his position too.
They will probably wait for the end of his contract to move on from him but I wonder if it wouldn’t be too late.

The look on MariaCarla and the white wedding dress were good tho.

 

[mteb123]

There simply has to be a reason why they are keeping this guy around, other designers have been fired quicker, so it’s interesting why he is still there when they could’ve just scrapped him and started a fresh!! We are counting the days!! Never loathed a designer and his work as much as his!! Such a shame with the history of the brand and the talent that came before they are killing that brand and tarnishing its legacy!!

 

[donyan]

I feel like KERING is in a trap…
They probably renewed Demna’s contract before the controversy…And now they are stuck with it.
Obviously, his aesthetic doesn’t seem to evolve and there’s a shift happening in fashion that will make this aesthetic not IT anymore. Yes, it will continue to appeal to some people and in a sense, because personal style in LA is either sweatpants or eveningwear, the venue was a right choice.

But Balenciaga is not moving needles in the industry anymore. The look doesn’t have a enduring and timeless appeal of Celine either..

Charbit is trying his hardest to keep his position too.
They will probably wait for the end of his contract to move on from him but I wonder if it wouldn’t be too late.

The look on MariaCarla and the white wedding dress were good tho.

It would probably cost them a huge amount of money to let him go before he finishes his contract. I suppose it’s a question of what’s more expensive, the diminishing sales or Demna’s severance package. Maybe the sales aren’t diminishing after all ?

 

[RosesAreRed]

It would probably cost them a huge amount of money to let him go before he finishes his contract. I suppose it’s a question of what’s more expensive, the diminishing sales or Demna’s severance package. Maybe the sales aren’t diminishing after all ?

Well you can check the sale section in any department store and judge for yourself.

 

[THD96]

It would probably cost them a huge amount of money to let him go before he finishes his contract. I suppose it’s a question of what’s more expensive, the diminishing sales or Demna’s severance package. Maybe the sales aren’t diminishing after all ?

Maybe this time Kering/Pinault is just tired of having another unnecessary legal battle with their designer. Waiting for his contract to be expire is the easy way to avoid all of that drama.
One thing is for sure, don't expect Pinault to pull a Sarah Burton at Demna's last show.

 

[Lola701]

It would probably cost them a huge amount of money to let him go before he finishes his contract. I suppose it’s a question of what’s more expensive, the diminishing sales or Demna’s severance package. Maybe the sales aren’t diminishing after all ?

Balenciaga was an expanding brand and right away, everything got cut off. The communication during the crisis was atrocious and the problem also is that we have two people in a rocky situation, much like at Gucci.
It’s all fair tbh for Charbit to fight for his position and try to have a moment back. But I don’t feel like Marketing can solely work in this case. We saw it at Gucci.

I think that a change of aesthetic, when you have such an impact on fashion, can really change the course of things. I’m sure that if Michele toned down things, Gucci wouldn’t have been in the Ancora mess they are in right now.

Balenciaga is not selling that much, even though I’m sure the core audience is still buying from the brand. The problem with Balenciaga is that the house now is too associated with Demna. They do not have a lot of Nicolas era pieces or even a permanent collection that can exist beyond the fashion show mess.

I feel like the early seasons of Demna at Balenciaga are more relevant now than his past 5/6 collections at least.

If the dynamic doesn’t change in terms of sales, they will let Demna go. But their priority at Kering is Gucci.

 

[LadyJunon]

I feel like the early seasons of Demna at Balenciaga are more relevant now than his past 5/6 collections at least.

If the dynamic doesn’t change in terms of sales, they will let Demna go. But their priority at Kering is Gucci.

Honestly, Demna had the best debut at Balenciaga. It was delightfully odd, but timeless. His tenure became sour very fast after his menswear collections started gaining traction and he decided to go co-ed.

 

[Constructionist]

Every time this abomination continues to ruin this house, i feel sooo bad for fashion and mostly for Ralph Rucci.

At this point, you have to ask what Cristobal did to the Pinault family back in the day.

 

[Lola701]

Every time this abomination continues to ruin this house, i feel sooo bad for fashion and mostly for Ralph Rucci.

At this point, you have to ask what Cristobal did to the Pinault family back in the day.

I mean…Has Pinault had any emotional attachment to his brands beyond their value and the legacy it is for his family?
We know that Bernard Arnault loves Dior. He loves Vuitton too and a lot of designers ( and not necessarily brands) but Dior is his jewel.
That’s how he made tough decisions to preserve the prestige of the house in the mid 2000’s.
And that’s why for a longtime, Dior was separated from LVMH.

Balenciaga is only part of Kering because Tom Ford wanted Nicolas Ghesquiere.
Their portfolio of brands for the most part has nothing to do with their personal interest or analysis.

Buying Christie’s felt more in tune with Pinault’s interest.
This is pure business.

 

[Overindulgence]

Born and raised in Los Angeles here, so maybe my opinion matters less when I say I dislike this collection (and I usually have soft spot for Demna). The only good look was Mariacarla's. I get the GTA-level of parody here but it already feels a year or so too late to make a punchline of this specific type of LA crowd? At this point, everyone, including the said crowd, already KNOW this specific crowd is annoying. It's cheap to make fun of the very people whose style was influenced by Demna, ultimately the joke is on himself. It's a big achievement to influence style in the ways he did...why try to reject it? I also think it's funny that the bags shown here are the shape/look of the City bag but he's still calling it Le Cagole, please...

Remember before the Fall 2023 show when he was quoted saying he is now focused on creating clothes and less on stunts/irony? Still not over those false statements.

Karl's Chanel LA show was more sly in its LA caricature (and it was glamorous) and Hedi's Celine show was a great love letter. Both Karl and Hedi understood the nuances of the city better.

 

[Maayan]

Yuck, what a mess! Some of the looks are so-bad copies of Chanel, Alexandre Vauthier and Versace. And those massive trainers, ugh...

 

[upNorth]

^ Year too late is exactly right. The world has moved on from the Christine Quinn-types outside of actual reality TV.

 

[vogue28]

VOGUE.COM

 

[vogue28]

VOGUE.COM

 

[MulletProof]

Both Karl and Hedi understood the nuances of the city better.

And they were honest with themselves, I'm going to be a gigantic troll here, but lord knows all of these people in Paris that love trashing LA would move there in a heartbeat if they could. Alright.. 🏃‍♀️

 

[lookatme]

Does he think he’s clever? He really can’t be this delusional at this point in his career that he thinks this is landing. Is he aware of how predictable he is? Anyone could have guessed that this is exactly what his LA collection would have looked like.

His first Couture collection a year or two back was so promising because the elegance, sophistication and restraint was so unexpected from Demna. It’s such a shame that he seems to almost be resentful of that work he did…these last few collections are such a backlash against himself.

Fashion is really most interesting and compelling when there’s tension. Prada was always the best when she had glamazons like Daria, Raquel or Carmen in her geek-chic collections. That’s good tension. Donatella’s best work was the era when she used Christina Kruse in Couture…an especially non-glamorous model for her most glamorous red carpet creations. It’s the same for Posh Spice fronting a frumpy Marc Jacobs collection campaign.

My point being - Demna really could be so much better if he put himself in a creatively “less comfortable” position and tasked himself with working within the standards of “good taste” - in his own way. We got a glimmer of that in his first Couture. Seeing his brand of strung-out models wearing impeccable Cristobal ballgowns had a great tension that is fresh. Strutting those same models out in velour tracksuits and cartoon-proportioned ugly sneakers no longer does the trick, I’m afraid.

 

[Norden]

I was in LA 2 weeks ago. He really digested what LA kind of dresses like in certain areas. But it’s so surface, the to go cups and Erewhon bags are just really silly and stupid to be honest. He metabolises memes really fast into fashion, but it just reads a bit cringeworthy now.

The clothes are meaningless, there’s just no content. I think anyone who wears this or looks like this is so over.

His time has come to move away.

 

[NYLA22]

^^ Yeah, exactly. Those Erewhon bags might have been clever two years ago, but everything in that show was too obvious and too shallow (as you said) for the current moment. And the soundtrack almost made me go insane.