Balenciaga Couture Fall 2023
Demna loaded his fall Balenciaga couture collection with metaphors in the guise of gobsmacking clothes.
The arresting metal Joan of Arc ballgown at the end? Consider it the designer’s happy place, raison d’être and shield against barbs. “Making clothes is my armor,” he said afterward. “I’ve suffered my whole life because of the way I dress, or what I tried to show through my work.”
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The big men’s overcoats and scarves, jutting forward into frozen, windswept forms? Those seemed to say that a hurricane — no doubt Balenciaga’s ad scandal last year — had passed.
And all the staggering trompe-l’oeil pieces, where jeans, tweed jackets and fur coats were all made of painted canvas? Perhaps a way of saying that nothing is quite as it first appears — and that in haute couture, nothing is impossible.
Here was another Balenciaga show with lots to unpack beyond the sheer exhilaration of seeing such meticulously realized clothes, the fruit of inventive tailoring, dramatic draping and painstaking technique.
The show had the same electricity as one year ago — perhaps even more — since Balenciaga has doubled the size of its George V couture salons, which gave one the feeling of walking through the same beige room several times.
Celebrities were crammed onto golden chairs — Cardi B, Offset, Michelle Yeoh and Yseult among them — and a few stalked the runway, notably Isabelle Huppert, her big eyes full of emotion.
Perhaps the voice of Maria Callas got to her. Stripped of the orchestra backing via an AI-assisted engineering process that took months, the operatic soundtrack was a couture creation itself, adding an emotional component to the show.
Demna began introducing technology into the couture last year and face shields realized by Mercedes-Benz Formula 1 racing engineers, and purse-like Bang & Olufsen portable speakers have been among the bestselling items at the Balenciaga Couture stores downstairs from the salons, Balenciaga chief executive officer Cédric Charbit related before the show.
The finale look was CAD-designed, 3D-printed in galvanized resin that was then chromed, and lined in velvet.
At the other end of the spectrum, the designer employed groups of fine artists to apply their oil paints with tiny brushes to flat pattern pieces that were later assembled. You could swear that the buttons on double-breasted men’s jackets were real, and that the jeans were weathered from nightclubbing in Berlin.
Here were new ways to ground couture in the streetwear world that propelled Demna onto the international fashion radar in the first place. There were no hoodies, but puffers and anoraks that will turn heads without a single logo, the bulbous silhouettes and lustrous fabrics their calling cards.
The double-breasted tailoring was exceptional, the black fabrics probably costing more than a month’s rent per yard. By contrast, the hand-painted men’s looks had a rumpled, retro feel that didn’t look expensive, which was partly Demna’s point.
“I like the couture that you can see, but I also like couture that you don’t see. I think that’s also a big part of who I am in making clothes, but also a big part of who Cristóbal Balenciaga was,” he said, referring to the legendary Spanish founder.
The funnel-necked suits and coats were striking, resembling upside-down tailored jackets. And the evening gowns dazzled, done up in outsized chainmail, little ringlets of organza, or thousands of crystals.
As metaphor, the dress that opened the show was perhaps a link to the past, but it also sheltered a sweet back story. The long-sleeved black velvet number from the winter 1966 haute couture collection was purchased by Grace Kelly, and worn at her 40th birthday party in Monaco.
For Danielle Slavik, a house model for Cristóbal Balenciaga from 1964 until 1968, it was her favorite dress of her entire modeling career. Demna had gifted her a replica last year, and you could tell the way she modeled it on Wednesday that her affection for that dress hasn’t waned.
Launch Gallery: Balenciaga Couture Fall 2023
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