Balenciaga Fall 2024 – When Demna Gvasalia Embraces His True Self!
As Demna Gvasalia returns to his essence, reigniting his flair, joy, and humor, the essence of French fashion house Balenciaga is revitalized.
After a series of self-reflections manifested through numerous serious collections, focusing on exploring the core values of fashion – the art of tailoring, Demna Gvasalia finally makes a comeback! The Pre-Fall 2024 show, reminiscent of a glamorous Hollywood, served as the prelude, paving the way for Balenciaga Fall 2024 within the framework of Paris Fashion Week. Despite debates arising after controversial advertising campaigns, most of us agree that when Demna is serious, Balenciaga also becomes monotonous. It’s all about Demna, Demna, Demna ruining the classic legacy left by Cristóbal Balenciaga. However, we cannot deny that Demna’s presence has helped the long-established French fashion house expand its brand recognition, becoming one of the leading names in direct conversation with contemporary fashion. That talented creative director grants clothes a unique power – empowering wearers to boldly express themselves and have a “voice” in society. They represent and resist injustices, societal issues, much like how Demna uses his unparalleled imagination and creative thinking to challenge traditional fashion.
Once again, Demna embodies this noble mission in 68 complete looks. Returning to his essence, Demna intrigues the entire fashion world with his show from the invitation to the illuminated runway. Balenciaga Fall 2024 invites viewers with a package from eBay, containing a distinctive vintage item personally selected by Demna. It could be a forgotten holiday snow globe, a lone fork, or perhaps a spoon from a long-lost lover’s kitchen drawer. Each invitation carries the weight of untold stories and promises to connect us to the emotional essence of humanity. Each item, a talisman of someone’s past, now serves as a gateway to an exquisite fashion experience.
In a world questioning “What is luxury?” and facing crises regarding the importance of fashion, Balenciaga is Demna’s decision to engage in a high-stakes game of “What can I buy for under $20 on eBay?”. Demna had a conversation with the media: “As you know, I like to ask questions about what matters to me through my work, and some of the questions I’ve been thinking about lately are: What is luxury? What is fashion and why is it important? Who am I doing this for? Is fashion enough? In an information-overloaded world, does the concept of ‘enough’ still exist? What is enough? The important part isn’t necessarily finding the answers but asking the questions. By definition, luxury is a kind of scarcity, something not always readily available. What seems truly scarce and finite nowadays is creativity. I believe creativity has secretly become a new form of luxury. I want this show to reflect the relationship between Balenciaga’s past and future, as a place that values creativity.”
As Demna shared, Balenciaga Fall 2024 begins with shapes and ideas directly inspired by Cristobal’s legacy, developed into deeper experiments with what has made Demna famous: reimagining the concept of beauty, forging a style instantly recognizable by the public, and considering how the body interacts with clothing. “This collection speaks to an aesthetic that I’ve developed in fashion over the past decade. It’s also the importance of fashion to me,” Demna said.
This season, Balenciaga breaks the core foundation of luxury fashion, once again proving that luxury is not only determined by the exclusivity of premium materials but also by boldness in unconventional layering combinations, akin to the randomness found on eBay. Imagine strutting down the street in a $3000 outfit, but in reality, it’s a “collection” of $10 t-shirts and $20 jeans, meticulously stacked to create diverse styles from everyday wear to evening gowns. It’s not just fashion; it’s an “archaeological excavation” through eBay’s timeline, unearthing forgotten wardrobes to tailor clothes for the elite. It’s not merely recycling old clothes into new ones; it’s the process of “re-luxurizing” what should have been discarded into coveted items desired by the fashion world.
Demna’s new definition of luxury unfolds in a simulated information-overloaded world. The show space is filled with short videos reminiscent of TikTok, showcasing diverse content from various themes worldwide. The information chaos in the show’s environment screams, “We’re on the brink of the end, but at least we’ll be fashionably dressed.” It looks like a scene from a science fiction movie before the hero dies, a doomsday organized by Demna for the fashion world to savor.
In stark contrast to the tense, suffocating atmosphere of the show, Demna releases models onto the runway casually strolling, ignoring life’s struggles, chewing gum, wearing heavily futuristic silicone masks, mentally preparing to enter a world overwhelmed by data. Their appearances still exude the characteristic whimsy. They wear floor-length dresses made from a multitude of hoodies or t-shirts; jackets, shirts, and blazers worn as aprons or pinafores; and shirts “cooked up” from dusty old jeans as well as sweatpants.