Demna Gvasalia Dedicates Balenciaga Show to Fearlessness

Balenciaga‘s Winter 2022 collection imagined a dystopian future where the very idea of the season felt nostalgic. In this world, snow is exotic and weather is man-made. Staged on a circular white field surrounded by a perimeter of glass, the collection of futuristic looks, obscured by snowflakes and brought to life with great gusts of wind, was observed through a larger-than-life snow globe.

There were tight-fitting hybrid stretch dresses, bodysuits, gloves, pants, and narrow yet dramatic trains. Garments were destroyed, shrunken, or oversized. This alternate universe called for resourcefulness, evidently. Outerwear got the pullover treatment, towels were worn as wraps, and jeans were repurposed into a top. Custom Balenciaga packaging tape (seen swathing Kim Kardashian) was used for belts for pants and coats. A floor-length coat used EPHEA, a mycelium-based material developed in-house.

The show was accompanied by a letter from Demna Gvasalia, addressing the current war in Ukraine, and how hard it was to work on this show. The designer recognized, that “in a time like this, fashion loses its relevance and its actual right to exist. Fashion week feels like some kind of an absurdity.” The thought of canceling the show crossed his mind, but he thought better of it, choosing not to give in “to the evil that has already hurt me so much for almost 30 years. I decided that I can no longer sacrifice parts of me to that senseless, heartless war of ego.”

Gvasalia described his own experience as a “forever refugee” after fleeing his home country of Georgia in 1993. “The fear, the desperation, the realization that no one wants you. But I also realized what really matters in life, the most important things, like life itself and human love and compassion.

He then dedicated the show to “fearlessness, to resistance, and to the victory of love and peace.”