No.n the dense calendar of Paris Fashion Week 2022 the show by Balenciaga has always been one of the most anticipated and has not disappointed even this season, not only for the fashion proposals, but above all for having become an act of denunciation against the war in Ukraine. Oversized silhouettes and total black suits envelop the models, who instead of treading the usual glossy catwalk walk uncertainly in the midst of a storm, like refugees on the run. The creative director Demna thus recalled the relevance and influence that fashion can assume in the political and social fields.
Balenciaga and Ukraine
There Balenciaga Fall-Winter 2022/2023 fashion show was presented in an “infinite white field”, a circular space covered with artificial snow, protected by a transparent glass from which guests had a 360 ° view of the walkway. The topicality of the situation in Ukraine, impossible to ignore, was the starting point for this show.
As told by Demna in the notes to the parade, “the war in Ukraine rekindled the pain of a past trauma, the one I have been carrying with me since 1993, when the same thing happened in my country and when I became, forever, a refugee“. Despite a certain hesitation and the concrete possibility of canceling the show, because “in moments like these, fashion loses its relevance and its right to exist”, the Georgian designer has decided to stage the show, transforming it into a tribute to “courage, resistance and the victory of love and peace“.
The notes of the show in which Demna Gvasalia tells the concept behind the show, and the memory of her escape from Georgia in the war.
Fashion parades for peace
The references and homages against the war going on during the Balenciaga event were many and varied. The guests found waiting for them in their place of flags of Ukraine elegantly folded, while the actual show opened with the voice of Demna who spoke in Ukrainian.
The same idea of winter staged by the maison, characterized by snow storms and very strong gusts of wind, a perfect metaphor for the concrete and emotional difficulties that all war refugees have to face. Oversized silhouettes and a total black look populated the snowy space, letting the last two releases resume once again the colors of the Ukrainian flag.
The final look of the show, in the blue of the Ukrainian flag.
Kim Kardashian special guest
For some time now, muse and exceptional testimonial for Balenciaga, Kim Kardashian could not miss the Parisian appointment of the maison, presenting himself with an unprecedented avant-garde outfit, which would be unveiled on the catwalk shortly thereafter. There black catsuitvery adherent, was covered with a yellow ribbonsimilar to the one used by the American police at crime scenes, but bearing the Balenciaga logo, which was wrapped, by hand, around the body of the American star. The end result is astounding.
But there were many guests in the front row: Chiara Ferragni, the actresses Isabelle Huppert (one of the protagonists of the brand’s latest campaign) and Adele Exarchopolos. But also the entire Pinault family: Mathilde, Valentina and Salma Hayek. The latter in the backstage of the parade also launches a message against the war: wearing the colors of the Ukrainian flag and inserting a dove symbol of peace in the post.
But the whole fashion system is now mobilizing and after the many gestures of solidarity by maison and stylists, even the large luxury groups take the field, LVMH and Kering (of which Balenciaga is part), Richemont And Chanelhave in fact announced the closure of all the stores in Russia.
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