On July 9, in the historic salon on Avenue George V, Demna presented what will be remembered as his swan song for Balenciaga. After a decade of reinventing the codes of luxury, from pantaboots to literal trash bags, the Georgian designer bowed out of his Balenciaga chapter with a collection that paid tribute to both the house’s origins with Cristóbal Balenciaga and his own design legacy. In a show where the names of his team members were substituted for the music, he offered his final bow for the house.
Two women who also serve as symbols of Demna’s Balenciaga were, of course, on hand not just to take in the show, but to walk the runway in it as well: Isabelle Huppert, radiating sublime austerity and intellectualism, and Kim Kardashian, that conspicuous pop goddess and media star. Both ambassadors for Balenciaga, together they’re an apt picture of Demna’s design philosophy, a dialogue between discreet nobility and spectacular glamour. Huppert donned an impeccable high-collared black silhouette accessorized with large sunglasses, evoking the implacable Parisienne so dear to Balenciaga. Her look reflected her air of quiet stateliness in both fashion and on screen.
Kardashian stepped out in a form-fitting white silk slip dress inspired by Richard Brooks’ film Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, topped with a mink coat with embroidered feathers. Her look was an homage to Elizabeth Taylor, right down to diamond earrings from the icon’s private collection, on loan from Lorraine Schwartz. Two women, two eras, two figures of femininity, brought together by Demna’s vision, where fit and fashion are in perpetual conversation. It’s the ultimate proof that, under Demna’s direction, clothing has never been simply something to be worn, but something to be embodied.
The collection, deliberately sober in palette and rich in structure, revisited the archetypes of the bourgeoisie. Medici collars, “comfortable” corsetry, tulip lapels, and sculpted sleeves. A houndstooth suit from 1967, reimagined, is an erudite retread of the house’s history. Pieces in trompe-l’œil corduroy made from 300 meters of tufted embroidery, coats with no side seams, or the black sequined “Diva dress” worn by Naomi Campbell echo a couture ideal where technique and poetry merge.
“One-size-fits-all” ensembles, fit for a bodybuilder, were worn by models of different body sizes. “It’s not the garment that defines the body, but the body that defines the garment,” Demna wrote in the show notes. The show closed to Sade’s No Ordinary Love with a seamless guipure lace dress look, fashioned using millinery techniques. A dress with a minimal sculptural allure serves as a grace note in the designer’s manifesto: “I got as close as I could to the satisfaction of Cristóbal Balenciaga’s endless pursuit of impossible perfection.”
BALENCIAGA
BALENCIAGA
The front row was on par with the event: Nicole Kidman, Cardi B, Aya Nakamura, Katy Perry, and Adèle Exarchopoulos were all present, dressed in the house’s finest pieces. All came to salute the man who redefined Balenciaga for a generation. In a few days’ time, Pierpaolo Piccioli will take over. Demna, meanwhile, is preparing to take on a new challenge at Gucci.
Originally published by Vanity Fair France.
