Balenciaga

Balenciaga

Founded

1919, Spain, Donostia-San Sebastian

Founder

Cristóbal Balenciaga

Owner

PPR

Creative director

Demna Gvasalia

Significant models

Kim Kardashian, Bella Hadid, Eugenie Bondurant

Balenciaga is a fashion house founded by Cristóbal Balenciaga, a Spanish designer, born in the Basque Country, Spain. He had a reputation as a couturier of uncompromising standards and was referred to as “the master of us all” by Christian Dior. His bubble skirts and odd, feminine, yet ultra-modern shapes were trademarks of the house. The house of Balenciaga is now owned by the French multinational company PPR and directed by Demna Gvasalia.

Shows

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Balenciaga’s (fashion) shows are known to display there experimental clothing along side a superior message that the show is based upon. Some of the most significant messages Balenciaga has represented are, “Ukraine” in their 360° Winter 2022 show, the “ice-caps melting” in their Winter 2020 show, and “digital identity” in their Clones Spring 2022 show.

Child advertising controversy

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In November 2022, an advertising campaign posted on Balenciaga’s Instagram account featured children holding teddy bears dressed in bondage and BDSM gear. Balenciaga later apologized after heavy criticism and removed all posts connected to the photo campaign. Meanwhile, the photographer, Gabriele Galimberti, said that both the children and the objects which appeared in the photos were all selected by Balenciaga. Hours later, Balenciaga apologized for a separate, earlier advertisement, in which a $3,000 Balenciaga handbag sits amongst papers which include the text from a Supreme Court opinion in the Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition child pornography case. Balenciaga announced that it was taking legal action against the production company North Six and set designer Nicholas Des Jardins, responsible for the advertisement with the child pornography court document, for $25 million. In response, the set designer’s attorney said that Balenciaga representatives were present at the shoot, and handled the papers and props used. Balenciaga dropped their legal action on December 2.

In another image, featuring the actress Isabelle Huppert, two art books can be seen in the background: one is based on The Cremaster Cycle (1994–2002) by the filmmaker Matthew Barney and one is As Sweet as It Gets (2014) by the Belgian painter Michaël Borremans. Some Twitter users tried to connect imagery from Barney’s and Borremans’ works to the court document, and based on this suggested there was a hidden message about child abuse in Balenciaga’s marketing material.