{"id":8064,"date":"2021-07-08T03:34:13","date_gmt":"2021-07-07T17:34:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/?post_type=articles&#038;p=196670"},"modified":"2021-07-08T09:36:58","modified_gmt":"2021-07-07T23:36:58","slug":"balenciaga-haute-couture-autumn-winter-2021","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/me\/articles\/balenciaga-haute-couture-autumn-winter-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"Demna Gvasalia Makes His Haute Couture Debut For Balenciaga"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mceTemp\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"mceTemp\"><\/div>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Balenciaga 50th Couture Collection\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/SNPnkHdjHvc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>During his five years as <a href=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/articles\/balenciaga-prefall-2021\/\">creative director of Balenciaga, Demna Gvasalia<\/a> has carved out a reputation as a man firmly fixated on the future. While the rest of the industry was adapting to digitally streaming runway shows during lockdown, Gvasalia one-upped them all, <a href=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/articles\/balenciaga-pioneers-choose-your-fighter-chic\/\">creating an immersive VR video game experience<\/a> to unveil Balenciaga\u2019s Fall \/ Winter 2021 collection, and then <a href=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/articles\/the-uncanny-valley-of-balenciagas-spring-summer-22-show\/\">debuting the brand&#8217;s Spring \/ Summer 2022 collection exclusively using artificial intelligence<\/a>, which mapped the face of a single model onto all 44 looks.<\/p>\n<p>So how to top this streak of breakneck innovation? Always one to surprise, Gvasalia did a total 180, introducing haute couture to the Balenciaga offering for the first time in more than half a century. Developed over the course of a year from his home base in Zurich, Gvasalia\u2019s 63-piece couture debut was unveiled in Paris this afternoon, in a salon-like set up inside Crist\u00f2bal Balenciaga\u2019s newly restored Parisian apartment on 10 Avenue George V.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is the most spiritual experience I ever had in fashion,\u201d Gvasalia told <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessoffashion.com\/opinions\/luxury\/can-balenciaga-modernise-couture\" target=\"_blank\">The Business of Fashion<\/a><\/em>. \u201cI feel like doing couture just makes me better as a person.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_196676\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-196676\" style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption alignfull -width\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-196676 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/00007-Balenciaga-Couture-Fall-21-credit-brand.jpeg\" alt=\"Balenciaga Fall Winter 2022 Haute Couture\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1536\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-196676\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image: Courtesy of Balenciaga<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>It certainly proved\u2014or at least served as a reminder of\u2014his abilities as a designer. The collection was a stunning display of craftsmanship, deftly translating the codes of haute couture into 2021, balancing 50s-style appliqued satin gowns alongside couture-ified jeans and white T-shirts. Gvasalia insisted the latter were, in fact, harder to create\u2014he sourced the very best fabric for \u2018denim trousers\u2019 from mills in Japan and Thailand and fastened the buttons with real silver. The white T-shirts took three months to perfect. \u201c<em>This<\/em> is what turns me on,\u201d he said in an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vogue.co.uk\/fashion\/gallery\/5-things-balenciaga-haute-couture-aw21\" target=\"_blank\">interview.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Presented to a sparse but star-studded front row, including Travis Scott, Bella Hadid, and a balaclava-wearing Kanye West, the collection revealed a deepened synergy between the legacy of Crist\u00f2bal Balenciaga, and the Georgian designer who has spent the last half-decade transforming his namesake label into one of fashion\u2019s buzziest. Voluminous, sculptural gowns\u2014including one based on a sketch Balenciaga created for Jackie Kennedy in the 60s\u2014were worn with silk opera gloves (and, in one instance, paired with a sensible tailored trouser), while Gvasalia\u2019s signature puffer coats were blown up to performance art proportions.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_196674\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-196674\" style=\"width: 2732px\" class=\"wp-caption alignfull -width -width\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-196674 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/00015-Balenciaga-Couture-Fall-21-credit-brand.jpeg\" alt=\"Balenciaga Fall Winter 2022 Haute Couture\" width=\"2732\" height=\"4098\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-196674\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image: Courtesy of Balenciaga<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The show had an added poignancy because of the choice to forgo a soundtrack: the collection was presented in complete silence. Everything\u2014the clearing of a throat, the click of an iPhone camera\u2014could be heard, as could the squeak of a leather boot or the swish of a heavily embroidered column gown. It gave proceedings a welcome sense of intimacy that is becoming rarer and rarer as runway shows become ever larger and more expensive spectacles.<\/p>\n<p>With this, Gvasalia was making a deeper statement: if the pandemic has shown us anything, it\u2019s that we need to pare things back. \u201cMaybe somebody just stops buying sneakers and T-shirts for a year or two, and then they can have this amazing couture trench coat. I would love that,\u201d he told <em>BoF. <\/em>It\u2019s a compelling proposition. And coming from the man who has so continuously found himself on the precipice of change in the fashion industry, it\u2019s one worth listening to.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_196673\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-196673\" style=\"width: 2732px\" class=\"wp-caption alignfull -width -width\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-196673 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/00049-Balenciaga-Couture-Fall-21-credit-brand.jpeg\" alt=\"Balenciaga Fall Winter 2022 Haute Couture\" width=\"2732\" height=\"4098\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-196673\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image: Courtesy of Balenciaga<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_196672\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-196672\" style=\"width: 2732px\" class=\"wp-caption alignfull -width -width\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-196672 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/00053-Balenciaga-Couture-Fall-21-credit-brand.jpeg\" alt=\"Balenciaga Fall Winter 2022 Haute Couture\" width=\"2732\" height=\"4098\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-196672\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image: Courtesy of Balenciaga<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_196671\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-196671\" style=\"width: 2732px\" class=\"wp-caption alignfull -width -width\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-196671 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/00062-Balenciaga-Couture-Fall-21-credit-brand.jpeg\" alt=\"Balenciaga Fall Winter 2022 Haute Couture\" width=\"2732\" height=\"4098\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-196671\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image: Courtesy of Balenciaga<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"author":26240,"featured_media":8066,"template":"","format":"standard","categories":[65,35],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v18.5 (Yoast SEO v20.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Demna Gvasalia&#039;s Makes His Haute Couture Debut For Balenciaga<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Demna Gvasalia&#039;s haute couture autumn winter 2022 collection for Balenciaga\u2014his couture debut\u2014was unveiled in Paris this afternoon, a moving show that showed fashion as moving art, displayed in a salon-like setting at Cristobal Balenciaga&#039;s former apartment.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/me\/articles\/balenciaga-haute-couture-autumn-winter-2021\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" 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