(Paris) Balenciaga, supposed to have reconnected with haute couture since 2020, presented a very streetwear collection on Wednesday in Paris, with XXL down jackets, fanciful hats and gothic sweatshirts, under the aegis of Demna Gvasalia, its disruptive artistic director.
“This couture collection is a tribute to counterculture dress codes,” the designer warns in his note.
The multi-genre and multi-season collection is a real jumble: XXL down jacket like a protective ball, ponchos with horizontal bands in green, pink and gray tones, trashy printed sweatshirt, Demna’s commercial signature.
The long leather coat, an archive of Cristobal Balenciaga having survived the change of style, follows a dress with superimposed belts, a recurring construction of the season.
The fuchsia touches, in dresses or hair coloring, bring an almost manga coloring to the disproportionate silhouettes and often in black.
The final piece was an ephemeral dress, like a ball of crumpled fabric, made of 47 meters of black nylon, “which will only exist for the duration of the show”, specifies in its note of intent Balenciaga, historically based in Paris and of which Demna, 43, took over in 2015.
The Georgian is known for his ironic and wacky style, which has helped bring the old fashion house founded by the Basque couturier back to the center of gaming and social media.
Demna notably dresses Kanye West and his ex-wife, Kim Kardashian, Justin Bieber, Aya Nakamura and the demanding French actress Isabelle Huppert.
For this fall/winter 2024-2025 haute couture week, it was his friend, the singer Katy Perry, who came to support him, sitting on the first floor in a black fur coat despite the high summer temperatures in Paris, worn open and with nothing underneath.
Balenciaga belongs to the Kering group, which also owns the brands Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta, and Alexander McQueen.
