Balenciaga Fall 2022 The Lost Tape. Review by Eleonora de Gray, Editor-in-Chief of RUNWAY MAGAZINE.
There’s nothing really to say about this show and the collection. And when I say nothing – I mean NOTHING. This is absolute NOTHINGNESS at it’s best, if I might add. Translation: ” Nothingness is the absence or cessation of life or existence.” And also “Nothingness is worthlessness, insignificance, unimportance.”
I was thinking to rephrase the press-release distributed to media without leaving any angle to fantasize about. But I’m not sure if it’s even worth it. I’ve read the critic about ” Oh, wow, it’s so modern, the shiluettes are so contemporary”…
Really? Who are you kidding? Adidas flees exist for the last 60 years, worker outwear exists for the last 100 years, nothing is fashion about it, and certainly nothing is new. 2500 € for a worker outwear? Well… if you really want it get one in specialized stores for 60 €. At least the quality of the outwear will be much better. After all the companies who produce professional outwear are doing it for generations, and really know how to do it.
And… PLEASE don’t call it artistic view, or reflection about real life. There’s nothing artistic about it. Designs taken from workers outwear, badly made up – that’s all about it. This is not a concept this is a decadence, absence of creativity and style. And it’s been like this since Kering Luxury Group bought Balenciaga fashion house. Everyone remembers a story of Ikea bag reproduced by Balenciaga and sold for 3500 €, giving it as a concept, an exact replica of Ikea bag, passing it as an art or concept. Well… nothing arty about it. You are not able to create, produce the ideas, don’t steal them from others. No matter how you turn this subject the meaning is the same – there’s no way theft can be covered in arty wrapper, theft is still theft.
Kering Luxury Group LOVE to cover theft by art concept. it concerns another fashion house Kering owns – Gucci and Dapper Dan. François-Henri Pinault, CEO of Kering, for the last couple of years opened a publicity campaign, buying media, creating public opinion, trying to legitimize the counterfeit. But in fact he started counterfeit pandemic.
Read story “Celebrating Counterfeit – François-Henri Pinault at CFDA Fashion Awards 2021” HERE.
And it’s not that I like or dislike some styles in fashion, it is more than I see it as a decadence, referring to perceived decay in standards, morals, dignity, fashion style, and so on, and so forth. Demna Gvasalia, designer of Balenciaga, decomposed style and class of Balenciaga, a Parisian luxury fashion house, which by the way had a history worth honoring. Nothing “Wow” about it.
Oh yes… the concept of course. But… there’s nothing new or modern in looking into the past, and making a presentation and / or show, and / or runway looked like it was done sometime in 70s and underground. Anti-fashion, deconstruction how NEW can it be?
Intellectualizing destruction or decay, giving sense to something which doesn’t have it, and never meant to have – that’s the “new, very modern and very wearable” fashion of Balenciaga for Fall 2022.
IMPORTANT NOTE was added to the press-release related to how Demna Gvasalia , designer of Balenciaga, from now on would like to be called.
Demna… just Demna! Or it is just Demon… Demon of destruction and counterfeit? Demna of chaos…
Sorry for bringing this religious meaning here, but it just asked for it… and it actually makes sense. This is the concept indeed.
Balenciaga Fall 2022 The Lost Tape Press-release
“The Balenciaga Fall 22 presentation comes in the form of a message from the past about what could have been and never was. It recalls a time when clothing that was alive with raw ideas—anti-fashion, deconstruction, and monochromatic minimalism—could be found anywhere from an industry spectacle to the active underground. On The Lost Tape, a fashion show is characterized by the people and things that defined this late- 90s era, directed by Harmony Korine. The collection symbolically fills a gap from Balenciaga’s forgotten years. Raver and post-grunge silhouettes are pushed to their limits. Proportions are played with, creating new silhouettes and evolving others, including Balenciaga signatures like the Basque waist jacket and the track suit. Front-to-back pieces are studies of classic suiting and tweed dresses that question closure placement, reverse-engineering constructions to become tailored. Ultra-stretchy knits make these and shrunken twin sets easy to put on.
Balenciaga icons are reimagined for modern comfort: A bell-shaped parka is affixed with a detachable travel pillow at the neck. Conventional pieces are twisted to create a cross between a bathrobe and a trench coat. Vintage slip dresses are disassembled and pieced back together. Five- pocket jeans are cut up to create a three-piece silhouette that can be worn as a miniskirt, pants, or XL thigh-high boots. Fluid tailoring gives a deconstructed suit an unlined raglan sleeve, in the collection’s Belgian avant-goth tones. Relaxed, low-rise trousers and jeans show an underwear waistband above a double-B belt for an elongated look. A Couture-like bell-shaped puffer’s detachable bow can be used as a scarf. Wrap closures use DIY ways of fastening, like oversized safety pins. The show’s first look seals the body from the neck down with a gloved top and the first pair of five-pocket Pantaboots.
The Excavator is a cowboy boot-inspired thigh-high wader. The Kensington is a unisex square-toed ballerina flat, worn like a slipper. The Falkon Boot has a wide, pliable upper, giving its silhouette additional volume. The Lindsay Bag reinterprets a Balenciaga classic, inspired by a buckled 90s purse. The Waist Bag is belted and cinched around its middle. The Metro Bag, a front flap purse, is made with knitted cords of faux leather and a massive metal chain. The Emo Bag combines grommeted fetish straps, extra hardware, and super stone-washed leather.
A commitment to responsible production continues, represented this season with 89.6% certified sustainable plain and printed ready-to-wear fabrics as well as pieces of upcycled leather used in garments and accessories.
IMPORTANT NOTE: From now on, Demna uses only his first name, distinguishing an artist title from a birthname and therefore separating creative work from personal life. In all press going forward, he chooses to be referred to simply as Demna.”
