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“Hello and welcome. In today’s session we will learn a pathway towards a happier life,” a voiceover at Balenciaga’s Fall/Winter 2024 Haute Couture Show in Paris began. “When you’re ready, you can close your eyes and begin with some deep breaths.”
Cue Joey King adjusting her posture, Nicole Kidman appearing an almost statue and Anna Della Russo casting her glare resolutely downward. The latter is then startled as the first model emerges from the heavy cream curtains inside the house’s historic couture salon on Avenue George V.
“Inhale a maximum of air and exhale all the air out, slowing your breath down,” the narrator continues. “Repeat this process three times.”
It’s a tall ask of a black sunglass-clad fashion set who habitually raise their iPhones at any given sartorial moment. But in creative director Demna’s fourth haute couture offering, it was a welcome reprieve from the Olympic-building chaos at the atelier’s doorstep.
The first look, an oversized grey tee with cocoon-shaped 3/4 length sleeves and denim jeans engineered to appear as though a jacket is tied around the waist set Demna’s mode: a tribute to subculture dress codes. Styled with a huge, eccentric saucer hat—a fixture the designer introduced at his first couture show—the look was all but a prelude to the collection of everyday garments to follow, all of which were masterfully crafted; pieces lined in silk scuba satin, t-shirt prints with hand-painted oil drawings, a coat made from synthetic hair that took two-and-a-half months to make, a knitted goth dress made with black upcycled glass beads, the list went on. Until Demna’s patchwork of denim, leather, parkas and technical outerwear took a turn mid-show to extend into eveningwear.
A white column dress was made of melted and upcycled plastic bags, while another was made with a singular piece of black leather—no darts, no seams—and was held together with a giant safety pin, a nod to Cristóbal Balenciaga’s masterful pattern-making. Elsewhere, an inverted pair of denim pants become a column dress, as did a very large amount of aluminium foil. But it was the final look that shook the guests from their meditative state.
“The finale piece is an ephemeral black nylon dress that only exists for the duration of one event,” the show notes read. “It is made of 47 meters of fabric and assembled by the couture atelier team in a choreographed process directly around the body of the person and is destined to be only worn once.”
The piece takes approximately 30 minutes to make—and 30 seconds to dissolve.
Yes, there was something incredibly comforting and cosy about these oversized, cocoon-shaped silhouettes being soundtracked by a 10-minute meditative tool kit on how to invite joy into our cluttered minds. And, equally, how it can be channelled on a daily basis through empathy and compassion.
“Take a moment to think about what it means to you to lead a truly happy life,” the narrator concluded. “What would it allow you to do?”
What the star-studded cohort mentally answered, we’re dying to know.
See the entire Balenciaga Fall/Winter 2024 Haute Couture collection below. You can watch the show here.
