Demna Gvasalia showed street fashion right in front of the Balenciaga HQ

Whatever Demna Gvasalia has said about starting anew after Balenciaga’s marketing scandal of last December, he is back on familiar turf, now on the very doorsteps of the Balenciaga HQ in Paris, on a street named after the British monarch George V. The resort 2024 show, revealed ahead of the Paris Fashion Week for menswear, takes place in front of the maison’s Avenue George V home, where the house’s historic salon and atelier (first opened in 1937), as well as their present-day, somewhat oxymoronic “couture store”, were installed. Despite the storied address which is a short walk from the more touristy Champs Elysees, the presentation, live-streamed as a video, showed pedestrian traffic that exists purely in the mind of Mr Gvasalia. This could be the Mega City of the Matrix. Or, his Springfield-in-Paris.

And Balenciaga invited no one to the real-life set, they flew no celebrity into the city. All of them watched the livestream—assuming they did—from wherever they were. And one of them could have been Kanye West. Although Balenciaga’s relationship with Mr West was severed, Mr Gvasalia continued to pay homage to the rapper with looks that Yeezy probably would love to have in their own recent show (in fact, we don’t know if both men remain chums). It was easy to come to that conclusion when there were a walk-past of sinister, covered-up looks of the hoodie-and-shades variety that has become so synonymous with the pre-self-destructive era of Kanye West, whose anti-semitic comments ended all his fashion partnerships—including Gap—and his throne atop the fashion pile, stateside. Were these looks the reinstatement of the irony that Mr Gvasalia is known for?

While the cruise collections are less and less conceived for any real cruise vacations, the resort looks of Balenciaga, similarly, appeared at odds with anything that might be found in the luggage bound for, say, Bali or Boracay, or Banff. Mr Gvasalia was in modest fashion mode, again; his designs continued to obscure the body with the usual upsized layering and sometimes close-to-elliptical silhouettes. Balenciaga has since 2016 pushed through with the undeniably influential forms, based on exaggeration and what was happily called “couture attitude”—disposition to enhance design. One puffer and one extremely waisted blazer, reminiscent of those shown at Mr Gvasalia’s debut for the house were, for better or worse, still here. Or, have these pieces become such classics that their appearances were simply unavoidable, lest fans were disappointed?

As in the previous, post-scandal collection, nothing in the latest was really tweaked for a refreshed or reborn Balenciaga. (Except the rain, even when manufactured? What with precipitation this season, anyway?) Everything that you liked about the brand and had not already acquired was reprised, including those multi-coloured, vertical-striped bags that recalled the massive, woven PVC versions for laundry or whatever reason such a bag is required. Or the extremely long oblong clutches, with which you might be able the create the now-forgotten social distancing, in gowns that were the anthesis of the trends on the Met Gala red carpet. This was Balenciaga in true form. It was also a look at their greatest hits. But these days, we would be told not to take anything so literally. Or, for that matter, so seriously.

Screen shot (top) and photos: Balenciaga