All About Demna Gvasalia’s Debut Collection for Balenciaga

In an overall lackluster fashion season, the immediate reaction on social media to Vêtements designer Demna Gvasalia’s debut collection for Balenciaga seemed to suggest that this was the thing everyone had been looking for. The clothes felt fresh, unexpected, and of-the-moment, but still displayed a mastery of tailoring, color and print combinations, and couture proportions. 

The collection was presented, as per the show notes, as “a new chapter…a reimagining of the work of Cristobal Balenciaga—a wardrobe of absolute contemporaneity and realism imbued with the attitude of his haute couture.” 

The couture silhouettes for which Balenciaga is known—cocoon shapes, gentle sloped backs, skirts that stand away from the body—were reinterpreted in sportswear garments like windbreakers and puffers that open up away from the collar bone. These are the kind of streetwear staples that Gvasalia’s line Vêtements is known for—and with this collection for Balenciaga he proves he can translate that feeling of realness and urgency to something more refined and luxurious. 

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Still, it’s all about attitude for Gvasalia, even at the luxury level. “The collection is built around four couture ‘attitudes,’ focusing on a manner of carrying oneself in clothing rather than silhouette,” he says. And like the Vêtements woman, this new Balenciaga customer carries herself with innate coolness and confidence. 

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One thing, though, that is not cool at all: As casting director James Scully pointed out earlier, the lack of diversity in the model casting for Gvasalia’s shows—both for Vêtements and now for Balenciaga—is a problem. “So if you’re the designer the whole world is looking to right now how great that your message is one of exclusion which is never in fashion,” he writes on Instagram. 

[instagram ]https://www.instagram.com/p/BCnP3vrLFfK/?taken-by=jamespscully&hl=en[/instagram]

It’s true that the fashion industry as a whole has a lot of work to do to be more inclusive. With his position as a newly-installed designer for one of the biggest luxury houses in the world, Gvasalia could help to move the industry forward, rather than set it back. 

Leah Rose Chernikoff

Leah Chernikoff is the former digital director of ELLE.