March 7, 2022 |
Demna nearly cancelled his Balenciaga show in the wake of the war in Ukraine. In a time like this he reasoned, “fashion loses its relevance and its right to exist.” Add to that, the 1.5 million people who have, so far, fled the country, which brought back the trauma of the designer’s own refugee experience. He fled Georgia as a child in 1993 and said “I became a forever refugee. Forever, because that’s something that stays in you. The fear the desperation, the realisation that no one wants you.”
In the end he decided that cancelling the show would be “surrendering to the evil that has already hurt me so much”. Life, human love and compassion are what really matters he said, so instead of cancelling, he put on a parade that thrilled with emotion borne of lived experience. His models trudged across a man-made snowy tundra heading directly into a blizzard. Months in the making, the show had originally been planned as a comment on climate change. But with their heads bowed against the wind, Demna’s models embodied the struggle, defiance, vulnerability, discomfort and determination of those weathering a storm.
Some carried black leather ‘bin bags’, others wore outfits that looked like they were held together with masking tape. Flimsy dresses had trains that whipped in the vicious wind. There was little in the way of protection from the elements. One model wore a towel as a cape. Another wore a sustainable faux-leather coat made from fungi. Save for the Ukrainian yellow and blue looks that closed the show, almost every look was black. It was heartfelt and powerful.
Photography courtesy of Balenciaga.
