What is the deep meaning behind the seemingly glamorous design? Balenciaga slapped fashion hard with a mud show.
htmlOn October 2, Balenciaga's 2023 spring and summer series release show was staged during Paris Fashion Week . The show was similar to a huge mud pit. Models were wandering in the mud water around the mud pit. When mud ideas splashed onto the latest clothes, it was thought-provoking: why did Balenciaga "destroy" herself so much?
Interestingly, Balenciaga creative director Demna left a letter on the on-site seat saying that his design will no longer be explained, senior fashion critic Suzy Menkes also revealed that she regrets the rise of backstage interviews by designers, "because it renders comments too much, weakening the author's own perspective."
Image source: @thefacemagazine
The brand or designer presents a release show, and the final interpretation rights should be handed over to the viewer, but the current fashion industry is often counterproductive. An official website press release distributed on the all-media platform is similar. Media people are used to seeing those excellent sides and ignoring the bad sides. Demna's letter gives people enough freedom of interpretation and is truly undefined. Good and bad are the freedom of the creator. The preview of this "silt" show before the official start of the official start was very interesting. The text on the dusty car and street advertisements were like search notices. The wallet in the search notice also became an invitation letter to the release show. The wallet includes ID cards, credit cards, shopping receipts, cat photos, etc., which almost contain all the key information of a person.
Image source: @jaychou
Guests watching the show are also quite famous. In addition to a number of foreign celebrities, domestic Jay Chou and Sammi Cheng appeared on the show and were in the same frame. Sammi Cheng's street-style denim outfit also received a wave of praise on social media, and was teased by netizens, "She looked like this when I was a child, and she looked like this when she grew up." This verifies that fashion has nothing to do with age, but more importantly, the attitude she conveys.
Image source: @sammi_chengsauman
Kim Kardashian participated in the show at the 51st season of Balenciaga held in July, and this season opened with the rather topical Kanye West (now called Ye). When Kanye West wore an overly bulky military-style jacket in a muddy and nervous music, he seemed like a doomsday walker walking in a ruined world, more like a lost person.
I don’t know if it was the photographer accidentally captured it or the brand’s requirement. Most of the looks at the opening show, the models opened their mouths slightly, their expressions were confused, and the scars on their faces seemed to have just experienced a battle.
Return to the Balenciaga design itself. The series still focuses on street style, covering Oversize jackets, sweatshirts, overalls, coats and other items. The overall color is mainly black, paired with mud show and splashed mud, adding a bit of doomsday atmosphere to the original street style.
The huge "popcorn" style decoration hanging around the model's neck is more like a shackle, to a certain extent, a shackle for the escape of the doomsday, or a shackle for fashion constraints. The huge handbag across the shoulders stole the spotlight, and it also seemed like it was loaded with escape supplies.
Oversize's suit is almost old-fashioned, and it has a contradictory and fashionable feeling when paired with the large pockets of scattered bags and sunglasses.
Street style suit and short jacket also occupy a partial proportion in this series. Although the colors are bright, they still look dirty in the mud background and the dark and unclear show pictures. Compared with the overall atmosphere, Demna doesn't seem to mind the details of the costumes. It doesn't matter if it's a little darker, it's normal to not see clearly. At least it's much better than the look of Balenciaga's 2022 Autumn and Winter Series in the snow.
If the look in front is a presentation of street style and functional style, the series of skirts behind Balenciaga is the best interpretation of conventional fashion and is also a style suitable for face-slapping fashion. Those dresses such as Greek female warrior dresses or dresses decorated with feathers and sequins are valuable. Now the hem of the skirt is dirty with mud, which makes it feel like pulling the brightest and most beautiful things out of the mud.
The last Look, the model walked out with a hunched with anger, as if he was anxious to play with someone, but the tight long skirt and high-waterproof shoes were tied.
Demna is full of creativity and good at satirical, meta-universe advertising, heavy snow and NYSE show, about the future and technology, about fashion and money, this time it is mud. The mud represents dirty and dilapidated, and is incompatible with fashion. But Demna is in such a place to put the show in such a place. Apart from the mud stained on the model's feet, even the guests watching the show were not spared. It was like playing a joke with those in the world of fame and fortune: "Look, so what if you are glamorous? You're still walking in the mud."
PS: In addition to the label, the pictures are from the brand and Vogue Runway.
