Balenciaga S/S 2022 Paris

[susseinmcswanny]

I feel strange, I am not necessarily liking this, but it does make me think - are we all here simply too stuck in the past or our expectations are too high, or is modern fashion that bad? As more people around love it, here the most loved brands get rejected. I am almost becoming self-conscious at this point - what if the general taste elevated and I am simply behind? If all of this makes sense.

S A M E. All the Fing time I keep thinking "what if I'm having a grey gardens moment"

 

[Phuel]

Just like Mugler, Demna has very little interest in advancing his vision...he just reiterates the same silhouettes in slightly different materials, colors or contexts. It neither offends me nor excites me...like watching paint dry. Some slight deviations from usual must register as an earthquake in his little world, the first two gowns are not flawless but a relief in a sea of predictability.

P.S. The video is so cheesy, I must be a very bitter individual because I didn't laugh once and considered the animation quite poor. They should have asked an anime studio...

Same. Can't blame Demna/Balenciaga for The Simpsons tiresome tropes when the show hasn’t been heartfelt clever/witty/self-aware, let alone remotely funny for a decade now. Back when it was so insightfully sharp and filled to the brim with genuine wit and soul, the episode where Marge scored brand new a Chanel suit at an outlet for $90 LOL (…Chanel at an outlet itself is impossibly brilliant writing) only to resew it over and over to impress her new rich friends would be so ironically fitting in this era where logos/monograms/hollow signatures only ever matter— and for this offering of which it’s the same old same old Demna tricks, just repurposed on a new cool setting.

You know, in many ways, his vision of fashion is such a deliberate and blatant mockery of the current state of fashion. What’s the point of genuinely having something new, challenging and beautiful to say these days when doing so will likely have you end up being ignored or going out of business...??? This current fashion era doesn’t deserve it. And these stupid skidrow stonewashed baggy jeans is part of that mockery. While the likes of Kim Jones/Raf Simons/JW Anderson are dead serious about their garbage, Demna seems to be pranking every one of these sucker but with a straight face (and unlike them, has the talent to back up his silliness where it counts). Every little detail is so distinctively his— even those dumb stonewashed baggy jeans that look like they came straight off the rags of The Salvation Army.

If I’m being kind, I’d like to believe Demna may very well possess a hint of self-awareness and knows all too well that his designs for this label is a satire that he’s suckered the victims of this industry to eat it all up. And for that— and as same old same old as it’s recycled here, I’m still team Demna. He gets it. And he deserves to sucker in this industry over and over.

 

[mepps]

It only sounds abstract if we just focus on the era of fashion we have experienced, where the designer is hardly a creator and mostly showman with the ability to morph, when needed, into a through and through businessman. It wasn't always like this. They were treated as artists at best, and as excellent, innovative tailors for the most part. If you juxtapose it with other fields with other creative people, like.. I don't know, art, you'll see a foundation remains to promote the legacy of a painter or sculptor, but you definitely won't see a debate of 'ugh, it's so important someone keeps painting and signing as Robert Rauschenberg! his work NEEDS to continue'. In more practical fields similar to fashion, like architecture, you also won't see 'John Johnson for Frank Gehry'.

Maybe the only field where the amount of profit you could still make would be so high and irresistible that the show must go on with or without the artist is music, but even that industry, often so dirty, keeps some principles and refrains.. but imagine how truly shitty that would be, if a bunch of nameless, questionably talented guys that are able to get hired and perform under the name 'The Beatles' 'Stone Roses' 'Pink Floyd' are the ones still selling out arenas, topping the charts, monopolizing media outlets and winning all the awards... it would get so vicious you would not just have to really struggle to find new music, at some point it would feel like there is no choice but to pick among these people pushed down your throat by music labels, and any new band would come off as a 'loser' that hasn't quite yet made it until they're able to finally get hired by The Beatles and play again and again these good ol' hits that your grandparents danced to. It would be insanity.

This oversensitivity some feel towards these old fashion houses like 'but it's legacy!' 'it's a part of our culture!' 'what would we do without it!'.. well exactly, what would someone do without the umbrella of some deceased person's parameters? anything. Plus how insecure and lacking in faith the perception of a city's arts/creativity must be to doubt anything that is new and hold on for dear life to the 5 ateliers that once made something great for a generation that is now largely death.

+1000

 

[FashionMuseDior]

It only sounds abstract if we just focus on the era of fashion we have experienced, where the designer is hardly a creator and mostly showman with the ability to morph, when needed, into a through and through businessman. It wasn't always like this. They were treated as artists at best, and as excellent, innovative tailors for the most part. If you juxtapose it with other fields with other creative people, like.. I don't know, art, you'll see a foundation remains to promote the legacy of a painter or sculptor, but you definitely won't see a debate of 'ugh, it's so important someone keeps painting and signing as Robert Rauschenberg! his work NEEDS to continue'. In more practical fields similar to fashion, like architecture, you also won't see 'John Johnson for Frank Gehry'.

Maybe the only field where the amount of profit you could still make would be so high and irresistible that the show must go on with or without the artist is music, but even that industry, often so dirty, keeps some principles and refrains.. but imagine how truly shitty that would be, if a bunch of nameless, questionably talented guys that are able to get hired and perform under the name 'The Beatles' 'Stone Roses' 'Pink Floyd' are the ones still selling out arenas, topping the charts, monopolizing media outlets and winning all the awards... it would get so vicious you would not just have to really struggle to find new music, at some point it would feel like there is no choice but to pick among these people pushed down your throat by music labels, and any new band would come off as a 'loser' that hasn't quite yet made it until they're able to finally get hired by The Beatles and play again and again these good ol' hits that your grandparents danced to. It would be insanity.

This oversensitivity some feel towards these old fashion houses like 'but it's legacy!' 'it's a part of our culture!' 'what would we do without it!'.. well exactly, what would someone do without the umbrella of some deceased person's parameters? anything. Plus how insecure and lacking in faith the perception of a city's arts/creativity must be to doubt anything that is new and hold on for dear life to the 5 ateliers that once made something great for a generation that is now largely death.

I get your point, and you're right. I just feel like it's too radical to simply decide to close a house with such history behind. There is many ways to keep it fresh while respecting its codes. This is coming from a fashion marketing perspective obviously.

 

[axiomatic]

Behind the scenes, from NYT

Homer Simpson Was Made for Fashion