Balenciaga - FALL 2021 COUTURE
Is anything more Demna Gvasalia doing Couture for Balenciaga than making denim with silver buttons?
It’s been 53 years since Balenciaga showed a couture show. The last one was designed by the legend Cristóbal Balenciaga himself. Gvasalia created buzz since the announcement that Balenciaga would return to the couture calendar; everyone was curious to know what his couture would look like when he is most well known for his continual reinvention of streetstyle.
And then the fashion world exploded with amazement at the show following a couture show held in silence.
Cristóbal Balenciaga also showed in silence, allowing the audience to focus on the clothes; an easier feat when the audience wasn’t grasping a phone in hand documenting everything for social media. But aren’t those the videos where the world sees the clothes move before the brand has time to upload? Those candid shots are what got the ball rolling as Gvasalia proved himself not just a great designer who understands the modern customer, but a great couturier.
Haute couture is not a money making business.
The argument over whether designer fashion is art or simply expensive clothes is an ongoing topic, but couture really is an artform that is kept alive by brands willing to pour money and time into a craft that is mostly gone. From the petit mains that create buttons, hats, embroidery work, it is art. There is only a small pool of clients that can afford and shop couture. But as Gvasalia himself said, “I really wanted to show who I am as a designer, considering the legacy [of Balenciaga] that I’m lucky enough to have here.” And he certainly proved he’s more than sneakers and hoodies.
The evening jackets are impeccably tailored, as couture should be, with the oversized look of the designer’s ready to wear jackets. Look 9’s severe black gown looks right out of a classic 50s technicolor film while being timeless. The jacket, ready to be handed over to a coat room, and opera gloves hint at the place a gown like this would be worn to. There’s crocodile skirts worn with sheer black tights the way women all used to, and big shoulders on the saturated purple wool coat and black sweater. A trenchcoat could be worn as a dress (or is a dress?) in Gvasalia’s world. Even his gowns range from a white wedding look to a red parka-esque evening gown.
The most captivating were the silk fur jackets. Made entirely of silk, this take on fur side steps the ethical debate, inventing a way to create fur that moves just like the real things without adding to the plastic heap. Fur has a history of being a wealth signifier; could this technique, this fur, become as coveted as animal fur once was? Either way, it had me doing double takes.
While there are the usual couture gowns, Demna includes sleek black bomber jackets and shirts. He pairs a beautiful white gown with pants. He has honored Balenciaga’s history without forgetting his own aesthetic. Gowns might be the backbone of couture for the clients who purchase it, but Gvasilia reaches out to potential customers and followers of his designs that would wear a sports jacket to a gala or the Devos Forum. The emerging class of technocrats love a seemingly ordinary t-shirt and hoodie.
It’s not out of place for the designer to show a grey hoodie among gowns.
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Photos Courtesy of Balenciaga
