Balenciaga; This Time We Won’t Forget & Forgive

By now everyone is well aware of what happened with Balenciaga. We’ve seen and heard the three different campaign images that have made every news headline, and not for any good reasons. 

Balenciaga, a luxury fashion house, under the creative direction of Georgian designer, Demna Gvasaglia, has redefined what luxury and mainstream consumerism can look like. Making headlines for their scandalous prices and boundary pushing designs, but this time their latest controversial campaign is one we should never forget and one we desperately need to learn from. 

To summarize, Balenciaga launched their holiday ad campaign this last November which was immediately met with backlash. A series of images that showed the latest Balenciaga design line photographed by Gabriele Galimberti, who is known for his famous “Toy Stories” photography series, which Demna loved and wanted to emulate for his latest campaign. 

Balenciaga told Galimberti they also wanted to use kids and that they be surrounded with their own products and props. Props that included plush bears in bondage gear, wine glasses, drawings of the devil, references to Baal, objects placement referencing a Ouija board. Why? How would anyone think this was a good look? Who approved of this? How does a brand like Balenciaga feel they can sell the public on child sexualization?

Honestly, because it happens often and us, consumers, are very quick to forgive and forget. So that is why this scandal is so important, we have all the tools (social media as communication) to not just cancel a brand but to choose to be more aware. Ignorance and turning a blind eye are no longer an option. 

Courtesy of NY Post

After the public called out Balenciaga for the sexualization of children in their campaign they released a public apology and, shortly after, their Adidas ss23 collaboration campaign came under fire too. As it used Supreme Court documents on child porn as props as well as a Michael Borreman book, which features disturbing images of naked children. 

Again, who approved this?

First you need to understand that a fashion shoot of this magnitude is not an easy job. It requires a lot of people, which means none of it happened by accident or without supervision. There is a photographer, Galimberti, a set designer, Mason Everhard, a visual creative, Guillaume Harrison, a creative director, Martina Tiefenthaler, a chief executive officer, Cedric Charbit and the brands creative director, Demna just to name a few. 

So who do we blame? The Balenciaga team, the Kering group, the production company North Six? Simple, all of them. But let’s not be fooled, the real enemy here is the predatory behavior society so often accepts and tries to keep quiet. 

Courtesy of HighSnobiety

Balenciaga had the images months before their release and still chose to move forward with their release. A decision that doesn’t really represent the supposed values of its owner company, the Kering Group. A self proclaimed global luxury group that manages some of the world's most renowned fashion houses. Owned by Francois Pinault, leading the luxury market under the guise of protecting women and underage models. 

So why did they work with children and have them pose in a set clearly designed with sexual innuendos? We could also ask why the photographer agreed to shoot this scenario, he didn’t have to. Why did Cedric Charbit, Balenciaga’s CEO, allow people like Lotta Volkova, Kanye West and Demna himself to be a part of the label. People, who all have openly expressed their addiction to non-conventional attitudes towards either sex or sadism.

Again, he is the same man who allowed for his team to show John Phillip Fisher’s name on the same campaign. A man accused of molesting his granddaughter for years. Are you kidding? We have to see it for what it is, a very clear campaign that is the culmination of everything that happens behind the scenes, abuse, torture and manipulation. 

Finding the culprit is absolutely just as important as understanding that it’s just not one person to blame. That it is not about canceling Balenciaga and moving on. For my generation, Gen-Zers and the younger ones, this is the scandal that for many will open their eyes into understanding that fashion, while it can be about pushing boundaries, creating beauty out of the uncomfortable, telling stories we might not want to hear, should never be about sexualizing children or anyone. 

Courtesy of HighSnobiety

Why? Because fashion and photography are communicative, they are carriers of subliminal messages that get stuck in our subconscious and campaigns like this further push the acceptance that children and underage kids should be sexualized and that it is okay to view them as sexual beings who want to have sex. You see how all of this is so messed up? This happens everywhere but the fashion industry who deals directly with minors is known for being sexually and psychologically abusive since forever. I invite you to scroll through @barrettpall Tik Tok account where he goes deep into the realities of being a model and working in the fashion industry.

So yeah, Balenciaga approves child sexualization, that's all we need to know. It’s the Kering Group, it’s North Six. But it is up to us to not forget this and start being way more analytical of what we are being sold. It’s about protecting those that can’t do it for themselves, child exploitation is not fashion. 

And Adidas we are still waiting for your apology and excuse.

Here are some resources to get more information about what you can do to help or to get help. Speaking up is not easy but it can save lives. 

https://mocsa.org/survivors/

https://www.nspcc.org.uk/what-is-child-abuse/types-of-abuse/child-sexual-abuse/

https://www.modelalliance.org