51 Years of Couture: Demna’s Balenciaga
If you are a social media user you noticed there was no escaping any Balenciaga Haute Couture 23’ content this past few days, and we are not mad about it.
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Demna Gvasalia’s second haute couture collection for the fashion house took the internet by storm when he debuted a runway filled with bigger than life gowns, sleek catsuits and celebrity icons both in the front row and on the runway.
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Balenciaga debuted its 51st haute couture collection, we can't help but reminisce about the fashion house trajectory. Looking back at Cristobal’s Balenciaga we recognize its timeless legacy in design and couture construction, fashion leaders like Dior called him “the master of us all” and Hubert de Givenchy referred to him as “the architect of haute couture”. Cristobal was a master couturier who shaped fashion through radical new designs and exploration of new silhouettes.
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Many have questioned how Balenciaga went from being a revolutionary brand that innovated fashion through its bold architectural shapes to the satirical pieces we see today. (A commentary on the absurdity of some aspects of fashion and the way we consume it?)
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Courtesy of HighSnobiety
Let’s remember fashion is about innovation and with innovation comes new trends, new social contexts, new technology, new necessities and new areas to explore. Demna, in my opinion, does this to perfection. He understands that people nowadays are sold into fashion trends, where he excels in his ready-to-wear collections and is a master at creating beautiful pieces filled with volume and shape just like Cristobal.
"It is important to know the past in order to build the future". Demna
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In each collection we see Denma’s clear essence in recreating a street style high end look while creating pieces that are clearly inspired from Cristobal’s archived master pieces.
As of lately, Balenciaga has made catsuits its signature silhouette while deforming and abstracting the female form was what made Cristbal’s work so groundbreaking. As the world saw in the mid 20th century with the Envelope Dress, The Sac and the Evening Dress and Cape. Two different eras, two different ways of dressing the body. Yet in both we see innovation, invention, future, iron, unpredictability and shared values.
Courtesy of Vogue
Courtesy of Vogue
Every runway look from the body-hugging adaptation of formal wear, to the ballooned gowns to the street wear influenced looks gave something to talk about especially if it belonged to the haute couture category. However, two different aspects of the collection stood out.
As the master of structure and shape shifter, Cristobal needed a fabric that fitted his creations. The Spanish couturier turned to a Swiss textile company that would make his textile dreams come true. A silk fabric named gazar that had stiffness was born, allowing Balenciaga to create architectural shapes. Today, Demna through innovation showcased his version of the gazar fabric. A modern take in the form of a soft Japanese limestone black neoprene.
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Continuing with the theme of modernity, technology couldn’t be missing. We have seen how Balenciaga intertwines fashion and modern day technology, as we saw with their virtual reality AW21 show and their Simpson episode for its SS22 fashion week show.
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This time technology cae in the shape of a speaker handbag. Balenciaga collaborated with audio experts, Bang & Olufsen, creating a new hybrid accessory that includes Bluetooth.
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