Balenciaga S/S 2023 Paris

[helmutnotdead]

But anyways, whatever this is, that shot of Julia is gorgeous. She really can sell anything without even trying

she’s literally the only great thing about his Balenciaga these days. the same happened at the couture show.

 

[thismortalcoil]

This is insulting to the legacy of Cristobal Balenciaga

 

[jeanclaude]

Well, Balenciaga has finally reached bottom-level with this. It is (literally) being dragged through the mud.

All I can see here is a covenant of deranged hobos. With, of course as always in Demna´s collections, lots of cheap Margiela copies. And his usual stupid "funny" antics, like that "Lays" chips purse.

 

[Wintergreen]

I'm just gonna post Ralph Rucci's latest instagram post.

 

[jeanclaude]

Rucci could do wonders at Balenciaga. He understands him, he lives through him, he is obsessed with him!

 

[yslforever]

How could you...

Yes, yes I know. The fact is I am very well acquainted with YSL's life, work and archives and much more, and I kind of love them, most of it. And because I love them, I am very ambivalent about the current SL; SS23 was strictly a reedition of Haute Couture dresses and suits with some 1984 Rive Gauche coats, which is the best option for SL and Vacarello.
Imho he's a terribly limited designer and I really do prefer when he tries to stick to the archives (like FW22 and SS23), obviously he doesn't seem to understand half of the refinement, tailoring or elegance of Saint-Laurent but he gets the general idea.
The main issue I have, and that's part of the reason I prefer Demna's dresses, is that AV is definitely not really interested in researching fabrics, cut, tailoring, or developping new ideas, while Demna is.
Look 37 with the visible "chalk" stitches and the open sleeve is absolutely brilliant, but 34, 36, 38 and others are also spectacular.

 

[jeanclaude]

Look 37 with the visible "chalk" stitches and the open sleeve is absolutely brilliant, but 34, 36, 38 and others are also spectacular.

Martin Margiela is the original creator who launched that idea, back in 1997...Demna is not interested in creating, but in copying from Martin.

 

[reesewu]

He purposefully picked that kind of set and lighting so everyone would have difficulty seeing the clothes in detail.

This is what happened when you took Mugatu’s Derelicte collection too seriously.

 

[LadyJunon]

This collection is being torn to shreds on social media.

People are criticising Demna's show notes preaching love and inclusivity, despite selling expensive, "exclusive" clothing and the models' bruised makeup along with the apocalyptic setting and military clothing is drawing references to the Ukrainian war.

 

[reesewu]

Yaas.

Kanye and his 'special' friend, Riccardo ~Tucci~

The 'special' friend pose is always killing me.

 

[FelipeV]

instagram.com, @amagazinecuratedby
I'm posting this press release because Demna has achieved the level of being so unbearable and pretentious, that I'm giving up on his Balenciaga. He really thinks he's above everyone else, hence the urge to make his comments on the social situation. However, at the end of the day, he's at Balenciaga to sell hoodies and sneakers and all he could do this season is to let Kanye open his show, taking place in the mud.

I hate this so much. Demna, sweetie: you work for Balenciaga not for the Salvation Army, you are playing the game, don't come with that bulls**t of fAShIoN iS dEaTH or BrEAk tHe rULeS when all you do is work for another international brand that sells luxury, no matter how battered the clothes are. You're not a rebel, sweetheart, just another out-of-touch VIP pretending to break the rules.

 

[Frederic01]

I think Balenciaga realised a few seasons ago that building these gargantuan sets and making social/cultural/political statements about "the world" - that's all you need to sell tonnes of merchandise. The clothes are irrelevant at this point and will continue to be so for years to come.

For me the only Balenciaga by Demna shows worth watching are his Couture shows, which is where you see at least some kind of reference to Cristobal and the archives. The rest of his output is all junk.

 

[Frederic01]

Tim Blanks' Review from Business of Fashion:

What’s in the Box?
Battered but unbroken, Demna is battling his way out of a box at Balenciaga. But at Valentino, Pier Paolo Piccioli’s box is packed with possibilities.
By TIM BLANKS 03 October 2022

Paris — Balenciaga’s show took place on the rim of a giant mud installation by artist Santiago Sierra, who has always courted controversy with his close-to-the-bone scenarios. The air in the venue was redolent of the smell of freshly turned earth. Maybe this was the site of a missile strike, maybe a recently exhumed mass grave. Events in Ukraine weigh heavy on designer Demna, given the trauma of his youth in nearby Georgia. When his models arrived, tramping through the mud in hoodies and shorts, they were battered and bruised, like kids dragged off the street to fight Putin’s senseless war. Their desperation was palpable. BFRND’s soundtrack was a relentless rat-a-tat-tat sonic assault.

But Demna’s casting was a democracy of the displaced. It wasn’t only scruffy kids in tatty sportwear, and Kanye West dressed as a security guard. It was women in evening gowns, trailing through the mud, it was tech workers, gym bunnies, tycoons, club kids. War had arrived on their doorstep. They had to leave now so they were taking a dirt track to the border, because the roads were closed. That was when the missile struck. You read it in the paper yesterday.

That’s one way of interpreting the extraordinary scenario Demna offered us on Sunday. Another was the one he gave us post-show. You’re so tired of being put in a box, especially by social media, but the more you try to be yourself, the more you get punched in the face. So you just have to get back on your feet and fight through the bullsh*t. And you have to dig for the truth, create one huge sucking pit of honesty at all costs.

Balenciaga is a luxury label, and Demna sees luxury being put in a box too. Why should it just be a cashmere sweater, he wondered backstage. Why couldn’t it be a distressed, graffiti-ed track suit that it had taken a dog’s age to besmirch? Balenciaga now has a whole Department of Ageing Things and Making Them Dirty. “It’s much harder to make things dirty,” he insisted.

Some of the models had papooses with (not real but scarily lifelike) babies in them. Demna loved the idea that a dad could be someone with piercings, who wore ballerinas and crazy clothes. He’s now 41. Maybe he’s feeling broody, which would be an investment in optimism. Yes, he’s an optimist, he claimed, but he’s not seeing much to be optimistic about. Even though he skated around the issue of how close the mise-en-scene of his new show was to current events, Demna continued to claim the show was like a personal therapeutic exercise for him. He liked the idea of not knowing where the dirt track led.

He also said that it was the outlet he had with haute couture that allowed him the freedom to create such dystopian fantasias. One was about brand heritage, the other was about himself, (im)pure and unadulterated. But he created such irresistibly current images that you could only think he was being a bit disingenuous. Like the last catwalk pairing: Julia Nobis in a glamorous column of black sequins, trailed by a hunched crone in a dress cobbled together from old leather tote bags. She looked like she wanted to Eat the Rich. And that’s a message which is truly torn from today’s headlines.

 

[Deleted member 1957]

Those ugly snake like things are going to be all over the internet.

 

[RaisinBoy]

Not his best, but still better than the rest!
Lol that should have been their pre show note :-))))))

 

[Overindulgence]

It didn't give me the same initial reaction/intrigue as his past few shows have but it's quickly growing on me a day later, I'll actually say I enjoy the collection. And I love the moody lighting and presentation.

 

[Norden]

He’s great at giving a show. Good for him because he needs to mask the fact he isn’t bringing anything new to the table.

after a few days of looking at this I think it’s kinda smart? The rtw has become band merch and the performance a fashion show. The couture is maybe what we all see as fashion the way we knew it. I like his couture, but this, this is just merch walking in a stadium. The final look says it all.

All this effort is a bit sad to be honest, especially when you put this next to a theyskens who with a whisper says so much more about topics demna is trying to talk about (aging textiles, climate doom, war etc)

 

[MulletProof]

^ days?

Never gave Ralph Rucci a single thought but I was thinking 'oh that takes some guts'.. then I took a quick look at his career and of course.. he's so accomplished in fashion but never made it the be all end all of his life. Gotta love that type of people.. too bad the industry itself doesn't allow these types to flourish anymore.

If someone can find a pic of Kanye today, that would be great! I know everything has to be literal in Demna's world so if he feels dragged to the mud (but remember: not by choice) and punched in the face, of course he will have a pile of mud in his show and models that looked punched in the face but.. I really think it's partly in solidarity to Kanye's unfortunate case of herpes or whatever was happening yesterday in his upper lip.

 

[gossiping]

although all the notes for the collection are a load of crap, i did enjoy watching the video. i'll give him that.

 

[Avonlea]

Would love to see Baron shoot editorial utilizing this set. Models wearing couture gowns fighting in mud.