Demna Gvasalia for Balenciaga moves creativity through a fashion show that looks like a betrayal unveiled by hackers in which the models are clones of one person and includes the second part of The Hacker Project started by Gucci in April
Text by: Domenico Costantini
“The presentation of Balenciaga’s Spring 2022 collection considers our changing senses of reality through the lens of technology. We look our world through a filter-perfected, polished, conformed, photoshopped. We no longer decipher between unedited and altered, genuine and counterfeit, tangible and conceptual, fact and fiction, fake and deepfake. Technology creates alternate realities and identities, a world of digital clones” is written in the collection note in the frank manner of someone who is no longer willing to cover fiction with a veil of transparent tulle.
Through the usual volumes and aesthetics, Gvasalia speaks and questions all the processes, ideas and discussions that have been held in recent years about authenticity, counterfeiting and cultural appropriation within the fashion industry. To make his proposal more comprehensible, he uses the technological deception of the digital and produces a fashion show in which the protagonists are none other than clones of a single face, that of Eliza Douglas. The clothes presented are a deliberate retrospective of the clothes from Demna’s collections, tunic dresses whose volumes and shapes pay homage to the founder of the fashion house, Cristóbal Balenciaga, intertwined with his contemporary vision of streetwear.
The soundtrack is a genius cover by BFRND of the song La vie en rose by Edith Piaf.
There are two central effects:
- Especially on the bags, where is printed/ you can find the tag “this is not a Gucci bag” inspired by Magritte ( taking up the concept of “ the betrayal of images” of René Magritte’s painting Ceci n’est pas un pipe).
- And a red velvet gown paying homage to drag artist Divine.
Demna Gvasalia is now ready for Haute Couture, and it seems certain that the collection will be launched in July.
