Demna Gvasalia - Designer, Creative Director of Balenciaga

[Wintergreen]

I stumbled onto Twitter by accident and it has turned into a complete black hole of hate speech and conspiracy theories. I've just erased the app from my phone, it's literally like being on an extreme/alt right message board.

I literally saw a conspiracy thread there (with 90k likes) that said that Balenciaga means "Baal is great" and apparently Baal is some sort of demon king. The worst thing is that the person who wrote that is Spanish, like me and like Cristóbal.

I honestly hope Elon's incompetence ruins that s***hole to the ground.

 

[aracic]

I literally saw a conspiracy thread there (with 90k likes) that said that Balenciaga means "Baal is great" and apparently Baal is some sort of demon king.

That really upsets me because a historical figure like Cristóbal Balenciaga does not deserve to have his legacy tarnished by someone else's wrongdoings. Do these pathetic little psychos really have no better thing to do other than over-analyzing and making up conspiracies online? Go touch some grass. Chile... And if you have to do it, go do it to Mr. Gvasalia - but I guess that one wouldn't get as many gags and retweets as a ''demon king''.

I'm getting tired of this scandal because the further we go, the more stupidity is starting to show and people are simply becoming unbearable. Baal is great? Are you f*cking kidding me?! It really is not that sinister and deep. We are dealing with a f*cked up individual who has a jarring take on art, not ritualistic murder. Get a grip!

 

[LadyJunon]

Demna has to go. This is starting to affect the image of other Kering brands. I've seen conspiracists attacking Gucci, Alexander McQueen and Saint Laurent on social media and some of them are even coming for Vaccarello and Blazy who had nothing to do with Demna's fuckeries. This is turning into a witch hunt and it isn't fair.

This is one of worst examples. The comments on this post reek of a weird marriage of 50s conservatism and 18th century religious fanaticism:

 

[THD96]

I mean considering that Madonna was dragged to the ground when this book was published in 1992, I'm not surprised by the reaction in YSL comment. Funny thing is that shot is quite vanilla, there are far more raunchy shots in that book that will surely make these prudish clowns' heads explode.

YSL won't have to lose any sleep for these people with like two brain cells and can grab the concept of sexual freedom and consensual.

These reactions only make me love this book even more.

 

[LadyJunon]

I mean considering that Madonna was dragged to the ground when this book was published in 1992, I'm not surprised by the reaction in YSL comment. Funny thing is that shot is quite vanilla, there are far more raunchy shots in that book that will surely make these prudish clowns' heads explode.


YSL won't have to lose any sleep for these people with like two brain cells and can grab the concept of sexual freedom and consensual.


These reactions only make me love this book even more.

I agree, this book is totally on brand for YSL. The public may strongly insist that Yves only created modest, demure, respectful clothes, but in truth he challenged concepts of good taste (beatniks at Dior), femininity (the Smoking), sexuality (the exposed breasts, references to 40s prostitution) and multiculturalism (references to traditional African and Asian dress).

The point is that they are use Balenciaga's fuckup to attack innocent people because one man owns both companies despite them having completely different teams, goals and modus operandi.

Also the fact that they can compare a woman consensually expressing her sexuality to child unknowingly being exploited makes me absolutely sick.

 

[MulletProof]

These reactions only make me love this book even more.

ngl, the reactions on this have me browsing stupid sites like 'hmm wonder if there's some non-ugly Balenciaga stuff I can buy...'

I was sensitive to the issue for a minute but the alt-right obscurantism is actually making me want to like Balenciaga. Demna should not have apologized. Yes, it's all ugly, and not funny only because Demna is forever stuck in Nylon Magazine circa 2008 smugness and irony for beginners type of s*it but should they go under the guillotine for this? no, that would just confirm whatever the Fox sheep are saying. Keep them... raise their salaries, extend their contracts, redo the ads with old men with teddy bears in bondage and carry on. There are more pressing issues (such as children being blown up into tiny little pieces when they go to school because.. the assault weapons those horrified by Balenciaga protect at all costs). Like I'm going to stay up over a Balenciaga ad.. give me a break.

 

[fenty]

well 7 years was enough time for him at that house, Kering needs to wrap it up and toss him out the gates.

 

[gallianostan]

Demna has to go. This is starting to affect the image of other Kering brands. I've seen conspiracists attacking Gucci, Alexander McQueen and Saint Laurent on social media and some of them are even coming for Vaccarello and Blazy who had nothing to do with Demna's fuckeries. This is turning into a witch hunt and it isn't fair.

This is one of worst examples. The comments on this post reek of a weird marriage of 50s conservatism and 18th century religious fanaticism:

...and that comment section shows why stupid people ought to be euthanised.

 

[YohjiAddict]

^The places where this “discussion” has led us into are frightening indeed. Torquemada would be proud of those commenters…

 

[yslforever]

Demna has to go. This is starting to affect the image of other Kering brands. I've seen conspiracists attacking Gucci, Alexander McQueen and Saint Laurent on social media and some of them are even coming for Vaccarello and Blazy who had nothing to do with Demna's fuckeries. This is turning into a witch hunt and it isn't fair.

This is one of worst examples. The comments on this post reek of a weird marriage of 50s conservatism and 18th century religious fanaticism:

To be honest current Kering-Saint-Laurent is not good at culturewashing even though they have access to the enormous Pinault fondation collections and curators but they do it on they own (with AV as curator). They are desesperate for sexy-edgy and it shows.

 

[Deleted member 7575]

To be honest current Kering-Saint-Laurent is not good at culturewashing even though they have access to the enormous Pinault fondation collections and curators but they do it on they own (with AV as curator). They are desesperate for sexy-edgy and it shows.

I think you are talking about a completely different thing.

 

[yslforever]

I think you are talking about a completely different thing.

Sorry I was talking about the Sex x Madonna x Meisel exhibit in Miami (and the IG post) which seems to attract the same kind of detractors as Balenciaga.
Those Qanon-influenced conspirationnists will soon mix Kering, the Marlene Dumas show in Venice, the Sex x Madonna exhibit, the Balenciaga controversies, Christies etc. in a big Kering-pizzagate...

 

[style_expert]

But putting in place a culture that better takes public sensitivities into account, all while keeping up the volume and velocity of marketing that social media demands, could be challenging for Balenciaga, which has staked its success under creative director Demna on sparking controversy with designs and marketing that willfully push the limits of acceptability.

“This is the nth example of how potentially dangerous this new era of frequent and two-way communication has become for fashion and luxury goods brands…[which] need to introduce safeguards and controls to make sure their messages are well received,” luxury analyst Luca Solca said

Thank you for posting the entire article!
Some interesting and very valid points raised here.

All previous controversies were fine and well with Kering as long as the Balenciaga revenue kept growing and growing and growing.
Sometimes I wonder if the Kering executives (including Cedric Charbit) are completely blinded by the $$$ signs in their eyes instead of making longer term plans for the positioning of their brands.
Totally unaware of how short-lived attention cycles and hypes can instantly turn against a brand with very little ways of damage control. So hopefully this will be a good (and probably expensive) lesson for them...
The apologies and the list of actions are such an embarrasment!

I can't really think of another way forward for the brand but to replace the CD and CEO.

 

[donyan]

I’m somewhat shocked at the level of animosity towards Balenciaga and Demna in particular. This is becoming ridiculous and going into a completely crazy and unacceptable direction

 

[Deleted member 7575]

I’m somewhat shocked at the level of animosity towards Balenciaga and Demna in particular. This is becoming ridiculous and going into a completely crazy and unacceptable direction

 

[gallianostan]

I’m somewhat shocked at the level of animosity towards Balenciaga and Demna in particular. This is becoming ridiculous and going into a completely crazy and unacceptable direction

just the archetypal christian moral panic. the campaign choices were distasteful, for sure, but those accusing balenciaga of advocating for child p*rn*gr*phy, child sacrifice, satanism, or pedophilia need to be sectioned. it's becoming extremely vile.

 

[aracic]

just the archetypal christian moral panic. the campaign choices were distasteful, for sure, but those accusing balenciaga of advocating for child p*rn*gr*phy, child sacrifice, satanism, or pedophilia need to be sectioned. it's becoming extremely vile.

Granted that a lot of those elements were referenced through various props present in the campaigns. I do agree that it's getting out of hand and that people are reaching far and wide, but some of that outrage is backed up by valid arguments.

 

[Deleted member 7575]

Thank you for posting the entire article!
Some interesting and very valid points raised here.

All previous controversies were fine and well with Kering as long as the Balenciaga revenue kept growing and growing and growing.
Sometimes I wonder if the Kering executives (including Cedric Charbit) are completely blinded by the $$$ signs in their eyes instead of making longer term plans for the positioning of their brands.
Totally unaware of how short-lived attention cycles and hypes can instantly turn against a brand with very little ways of damage control. So hopefully this will be a good (and probably expensive) lesson for them...
The apologies and the list of actions are such an embarrasment!

I can't really think of another way forward for the brand but to replace the CD and CEO.

OF COURSE

 

[Deleted member 7575]

just the archetypal christian moral panic. the campaign choices were distasteful, for sure, but those accusing balenciaga of advocating for child p*rn*gr*phy, child sacrifice, satanism, or pedophilia need to be sectioned. it's
becoming extremely vile.

But this is why you don't go anywhere near that stuff to begin with. Every product, every marketing image, every line of copy must must be filtered with the lens of Murphy's law: what's the worst thing people could think?

Because you know, people are dumb. We can't control that, but we can control what we put out into the world.

This is PR and marketing 101 and Balenciaga really should have known better.

 

[gazebo]

Comments on Demnas "apology" post are disabled. Are they really that clueless?
When you fly that close to the sun, yes I wanna see you burn to the ground.