Dear Shaded Viewers,
It’s been hard for me to keep this as a secret but I managed. Demna, the designer behind the brand Balenciaga, with the help of Director Harmony Korine, took us back to the 1990’s, the period when Demna discovered that he loved fashion. The film took on the look of a vintage VHS tape. The backstage line up consisted of taped to the wall polaroids. This was Paris in the 90’s and the air was full of cigarette smoke, can you imagine that happening now?
Show guests included Naomi Campbell, Cathy Horyn, Isabelle Huppert, Susanne Bartsch, Esther Canadas and yours truly. We had all lived that 1990’s experience for real and that is exactly why we were cast. I had fun talking to Cathy Horyn, honestly the scene was so well created that you actually felt like you were living in a time warp. My friend Giorgia asked me when it was filmed knowing something was strange because the time code said live but the look was definitely in the 90’s.
This season is a mix of super skinny and oversized looks. Puffer jackets come in a variety of silhouettes some ending at the high hip and one with a detachable pillow collar for comfortable travels. Tailoring has always been a signature of the house and some of the jackets are austere with cinched waists, some come with rounded hips. I visited the showroom today and discovered the construction included bones. There were raver and post-grunge silhouettes mixed in with boarder line haute couture looks. One I particularly liked was the black leather kimono jacket when did you ever even imagine a kimono in black leather? A hybrid trench coat looks like a bathrobe and a long transparent flounced dress is held together by safety pins. Tweed suits are turned backwards with irregularly positioned fastenings, t-shirts show skin and the new line of Balenciaga underwear, belts have big buckles and hanging chains. Vintage dresses are disassembled and reassembled to become raglan one-sleeves, five-pocket jeans can become a three-piece silhouette worn as a miniskirt, trousers or thigh-high cuissardes. The “Emo Bag” has fetish leather straps with eyelets, boots travel high on the leg a kind of fetish fisherman look.
This season Balenciaga continues its commitment to responsible production, represented by 89.6% certified sustainable ready-to-wear and printed fabrics, as well as recycled leather pieces used in garments and accessories.
To watch the show visit https://www.balenciaga.com/fr-fr/automne-22
Later,
Diane
