In an audio sent via Instagram this morning, Demna asked himself what luxury was today. “The scarce. And I think creativity is scarce,†he said. Two days before, guests at this Sunday's parade received an eBay box at their hotels or homes. Each one was presented with a rare object found on the platform: vases, handkerchiefs, old boxes, paperweights, snow bubbles… “Things that belonged to someone and that therefore highlight the emotional value in them.” In our digital world, this reminds us of emotion, what makes us human,†the brand wrote at the end of the invoice that certified the purchase of each object.
The truth is that for those who regularly attend fashion weeks for work, journalists, buyers or clients, Balenciaga represents that emotion; Nobody knows what is going to happen at the parade, and the invitation or the content the previous days on social networks work as clues to guess what is going to be seen. Few, if not anyone, currently manage to generate that previous magic; It is not so much expectation as it is speculation, something much deeper that is then transferred to the collection, full of references and symbols that need to be seen several times to understand as a whole.
On this occasion the stage, in Los Inválidos, was made up of screens, also on the floor and ceiling, that reproduced an everyday day and night in the mountains, in the city and, of course , in the most routine thing that exists, the phone screens. Day gave way to night and night to day, with hypnotic scenes and lights accompanied by music, always performed by Bfrnd, Demna's partner, who had the ability to immerse the guests in a kind of trance. The Georgian began at the end, that is, with the impressive sequin suits and the handmade pieces that were inspired by Cristóbal's work. He continued with fur coats treated to make them look aged (one of his obsessions is the mark that time and use leave on garments), he continued with rigid pieces made from a mold, with tracksuits, with clothing recycled leather with the label on, with backpacks that became tops, with pieces made from the accumulation of hoods, from stockings, with an evening dress made from bras. This is Balenciaga luxury. A luxury in which a tracksuit can take as much artisanal experimentation and almost as many hours of work as a dress in which each sequin is glued by hand. A luxury in which the clothes tell the story of the wearer, something that unfortunately is becoming less and less common in this business. A luxury in which what is recycled, used or discarded matters more than what is new. Demna said in his audio that this show was “his way of approaching fashion during these years.” And yet, none of the many outings in this show had that silhouette of pointed shoulders and oversized body that has been used so much. It hasn't been necessary. His identity remains recognizable in his games of dimensions, in those ready made in the Duchamp style that elevate the everyday to exclusive, in the experimentation with materials, from zeal to resin, from silk to denim.
Curiously, on Friday afternoon, his brother Guram, now at the head of Vetements, did turn Demna's influential silhouette into a kind of costume, a cliche too big to be worn or even to be analyzed carefully. A show filled with celebrities and designed (t-shirts with jokes included) to talk about the recent enmity, real or marketing, it doesn't matter, of the two brothers who a little over a decade ago brought excitement back to fashion with the most famous brand. It's ironic so far this century.
Luxury, for the brand most associated with luxury in the popular imagination, Hermès, is also not a question of viral objects or limited products, but a question of attitude. This is what the creative director of the house, Nadège Vanhee, said in the notes that accompanied Saturday's show. She was talking about a woman who can't be stopped by anything, not even the rain that fell from the stage. A woman who wears practical, visually perfect coats, jackets, dresses, pants and boots, designed to be touched and looked at closely: the leather is assembled with knitting, the studs and stones are sewn together forming a perfect puzzle. The designer said in a recent interview in “S Moda” that what made her happiest was discussing with other women the clothes they wore and lived with every day. “It no longer belongs to me, it is hers, it is her story—hers, she said. And the truth is that with this collection her words make sense. There are few things more revolutionary (and more difficult) than designing clothes to be lived and enjoyed, those types of garments that gain with the passage of time and use. It may seem that Hermès is a classic house, but its way of approaching design makes it one of the most contemporary. In fact, if Demna wasn't at Balenciaga and Nadège wasn't doing impeccable work for a decade, the Georgian would be a perfect candidate for Hermès.
In the vicinity of the Ann Demeulemeester show on Saturday, fans of the brand invited to the show gathered under torrential rain. The Belgian brand, now in the hands of Stefano Gallici, is one of the few that has its own tribe of faithful followers, who dress almost in uniform with that gothic and studiously shabby aesthetic. After the departure of Ludovic from Saint Sernin after a single collection that failed to capture that almost cult spirit that keeps the brand afloat, Gallici, in charge of the men's line since 2019, has managed to rescue the aura of the founder of he. This collection is perhaps more commercial than the previous one, with more basic pieces, but Ann, among the audience, applauded and smiled pleased. The designer had caught the attitude.
From the controversial debut of Seán McGirr in Alexander McQueen, which has faced opinions, the attitude of the models is also rescued, defiant, violent, almost inspiring fear, the same attitude with which the venerable Lee McQueen changed the history of fashion, rejecting the classic figure of the beautiful and complacent woman. Beyond McGirr's references, more or less literal, it is that attitude that prevails. More so in a debut collection, which still says little about the evolution of an artistic director in what is perhaps the most difficult fashion house given the weight of his legacy. Perhaps, as Demna says, luxury in these times is that, the different in times where the homogeneous prevails, something that cannot be explained but that is recognized as soon as it is seen.
Subscribe to continue reading
Lee sin lÃmites
_