Demna Gvasalia has been making Balenciaga couture increasingly in his image. Now, there is scant reference to Cristobal. Perhaps, just one dress. Or two

We woke up this morning to an eye-opening post on Instagram by the fashion designer-turned artist Miguel Adrover. It started with all caps: “WHAT CAN I SAY THANK YOU, OR I’LL SEE YOU IN COURT FOR TRIAL”. And then, as if finally composure was found, he added (with strange use of punctuation), ‘I’m a little tired., that this guy who designs for Balenciaga doesn’t stop copying me literally., it’s sad that none of the fashion editors who were sitting In (sic) my presentations in the front row, do not have the courage to give me credit, for something I did more than 14 years ago in the presentation “OUT OF MY MIND”, someone who charges so much money, for being a Great Servant for a Corporate Company Brand like “BALENCIAGA”, it should have its own style and greatness. “sad”’. Mr Adrover shared ten photos to prove his point. Could it be a coincidence? Is “this guy who designs for Balenciaga” not lauded by the media for being one of the most original designers of his generation?

Whether there was any imitation or just inspiration, the reality is Demna Gvasalia has almost totally moved away from the aesthetic that is associated with founder Cristobal, to the extent that he almost obliterated it. Sure, he has said he still honours the house codes, claiming in the show notes that he has embraced the “permanent components” of the maison since its inception. And is centred on four elements—immense millinery, sleeves of three-quarter lengths, the cocoon silhouette, and unusual fabrics. But the adherence was so overwhelmed by the need to reevaluate, remake, and reimagine everything that it was hard to make out what was Balenciaga, what was not. To us, Balenciaga is now totally on Mr Gvasalia’s turf, peopled by the misfits he adores, and applauded by those who consider him the true créateur. And the street is, as always, part of the turf; its influence makes the couture more in sync with what people really want to wear. Or what Mr Gvasalia desires his adherents to wear, such as Michelle Yeoh in a leather coat in 30-degrees Paris weather.

Like other houses, Balenciaga is also slowly, but definitely blurring the once very discernible line between haute couture and prêt-à-porter. Sure the fabrics are different, the trims are definitely so, the techniques unparalleled, and they are, as we are often reminded, made by hand over X man-hours. But why do we need to pay couture prices for a football jersey? And not looking especially haute with it (tempting is not the Olympics inspiration!), if not for the stiffness? Perhaps there is the by-now-tired subversiveness. And the pleasure of saying with glee, I want a couture T-shirt because I can. But have we not seen enough of similar clothes featured in the ready-to-wear collections? Or, does the couture, a business that must grow, need entry-level merchandise for Gen-Zers without a trust fund?

Don’t get us wrong. Mr Gvasalia is a compelling designer, a masterful technician. His couture still articulates something. He does not need an opera house for the showing to lend it context. As he said, the “couture collection is a tribute to subculture dress codes as important influences on my fashion vocabulary.” Our problem is that we are no longer astounded. The vocabulary is no longer new. As seen on the current collection, we know he can do all those things only his atelier can—the re-proportioning, the fusing of disparate elements, the twisting of this and that, the extreme romp with denim wear, the ways with puffers that say NOT Canada Goose, the ribbing of one side of a coat to mimic the ribcage, the use of parts of garments to create a separate whole, the inverting of pair of jeans into a dress, the stitching of belts together to form dresses (repurposing or new fabric?), the use of synthetic(!) wigs to fashion a coat. You can never say the approach is lazy, but we need more.

Some pieces may not hold their own without the styling or the headwear (the wide hat on which fabrics were thrown on top, even a plain T-shirt, as a field worker might after calling it a day), or the butterfly face shields worn like glasses that were inspired by the embroideries of Japanese artist Yumi Okita. A garment should be able to stand alone without the extraneous. Christobal Balenciaga did offer hats for a “complete look”, but they were not compulsory and were not picked because without them something about the dress would be missing. For certain, Demna Gvasalia has rewritten the rules—if there should be any at all—of French couture. He has shown that it can be super casual, street-leaning, body-enhancing or obscuring, and open not to just those who consider themselves elegant and well-bred, but also to the outsiders or the oddballs. Balenciaga couture, undoubtedly, swings both ways.

Screen shot (top): balenciaga/YouTube. Photos: Balenciaga