The designer’s swan song includes 101 pieces from his transformative, provocative tenure.
Demna is down to his last few days in Balenciaga. As the Georgian designer prepares to step down as creative director, a role he has held for the last 10 years, the Spanish label brings together his most iconic—and at times polarizing—creations in one exhibit.
Titled “Balenciaga by Demna,” the exhibition is both a retrospective of and a farewell for Demna, whose decade-long tenure at Balenciaga saw the maison transformed for better—or worse, as some critics believe. It’s held at Kering’s historic Laennec headquarters along rue de Sévres in Paris, and runs through July 9, Demna’s last day with the luxury fashion label. He held his final couture show for the house last July 3. If you’re lucky to be in Paris for the next three days, know that the exhibit is for free, all you need to do is register on this site.
The exhibit is curated by Demna himself, who is on the cusp of opening a new chapter in his career as Gucci’s creative director. He will be succeeded at Balenciaga by former Valentino top designer Pierpaolo Piccioli, who is expected by fashion observers to bring the 106-year-old brand closer to its roots.
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According to Balenciaga’s website, “Balenciaga by Demna” distills the 44-year-old fashion designer’s vision into 101 objects, including complete ensembles, individual garments, accessories, and footwear drawn from 30 collections. There are also two pieces loaned by the Palais Galliera fashion museum in Paris.
Demna has been known to challenge and even subvert what “luxury” means, resulting in creations that provoke conversations and heated debates. Among these provocative items were a $2,000 lookalike of the classic 99-cent blue Ikea bag, and the “destroyed” sneakers that arrived out of the box torn and frayed and sold for a rather hefty sum of $1,850.
There are times, however, when Demna went too far. The most infamous of his provocations came in 2022, when an ad campaign featuring images of young children cuddling teddy bears in bondage clothing received widespread backlash. It was widely viewed as an endorsement of child abuse and pornography and led to a $25 million lawsuit. Balenciaga admitted “a series of grievous errors for which (it) takes responsibility” and subsequently pulled out the campaigns.
Going back to “Balenciaga by Demna,” expect trompe-l’oeil constructions, readymades, upcycled garments, and oversized silhouettes, creations described as Demna’s reinterpretations of founder Cristóbal Balenciaga’s codes.
Among the highlights are a massive metallic gold ball gown shaped like a Ferrero Rocher candy, which also featured in Brooklyn Museum’s “Solid Gold” exhibition. There’s also a pair of silver chevalier boots from Balenciaga’s fall 2021 collection, which imagined fashion as battle gear. Then there’s the Spicy Chili Chips Bag, a calfskin clutch resembling a crushed bag of chips, emblematic of how Demna was able to turn the mundane into an item of luxury or, at the very least, into conversation starters.
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The résumé exhibit-slash-swan song also includes a quirky item: a printed-out rejection email from Balenciaga dated 2007, when Demna was turned down for an internship. “I had to search my old Hotmail account to find that,” he said in an interview with Vogue.
Fifty items are accompanied with an audio commentary narrated by Demna. The exhibit also comes with a catalogue, designed in the style of a glossy fashion magazine, featuring imagery of the exhibits alongside visuals created especially for the publication.
“I think these 10 years for me, they’re really this journey of how can we push the boundaries?” he told Vogue. “How can we perceive fashion in a different way, especially within the luxury context?”
Demna pushed the boundaries in Balenciaga, and in so doing, brought the brand to younger audiences. He will most certainly continue to blaze trails and provoke insight in his new home Gucci. Just how he’ll do it remains to be seen.
“Balenciaga by Demna” is on view at 40 rue de Sèvres, Paris 75007 through July 9. Book your slot on exposition.balenciaga.com.
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