Balenciaga's Fashion Show Plays with the Times and Reignites a Desire for Fashion

A hypnotic setting, a wardrobe in eBay's colors, and an offbeat femininity, the Balenciaga show plays with the era and reignites a desire for fashion.

Before diving into the details of Balenciaga's collection, we recommend you explore our article showcasing Chloé's Fall/Winter Collection for 2024/2025.

It's chaos this Sunday morning at Place Vauban at the Invalides. The crowd is waiting for Nicole Kidman - Balenciaga's new ambassador. She won't show up. No matter. Three other ambassadors, Isabelle Huppert, Kim Kardashian, and the Thai singer, actor, and model PP Krit Amnuaydechkorn, a true icon in his home country, trigger screams of hysteria in the crowd gathered in front of the show. Teddy Riner, Serena Williams, Salma Hayek, Damso, and some current series actors - Cole Sprouse, Keith Powers, Rachel Sennott - complete the celebrity tableau. Some very "Balenciaga-esque" creatures also pose in front of photographers, in their long draped black dresses or their suits with oversized shoulders. No doubt, we are at Balenciaga, a tribe recognizable like no other, a mix of coolness and radicalness, of couture streetwear and offbeat attitude. This is the whole point of this Fall-Winter 2024-2025 show. How to stand out, get noticed, and be desired in a world flooded by a plethora of luxury brands and fashion labels? The answer is at Balenciaga. As Disney+ recounts the life of the great Spanish couturier Cristóbal Balenciaga in a six-episode series, it's noted that Demna, who has been at the helm of the brand for a decade, writes, just like the house's founder, a new avant-garde elegance where the creation of a very identifiable style is renewed each season. Back to the runway. In front of screens hypnotically displaying AI-generated images transitioning from snow-covered or sunny mountains to urban metropolises and TikTok-influenced computer screens, the first silhouette of the show sets the tone.

A girl in a long, body-hugging, glittery animal print dress walks by, chewing her gum, with a Courtney Love vibe, dubious bleached blonde hair, tattoos, and a nose piercing. The tag hangs from her garment as if she just unpacked her eBay parcel. No need for a logo. She knows who she is, a Balenciaga girl, radically powerful, inevitably remarkable. Her tribe follows, in frozen draped dresses, frayed tights, sharp stiletto heels, eyes hidden behind futuristic mask sunglasses. Some shield themselves from the harsh winters in oversized faux fur coats treated with resin for an aged effect, while others have fun deconstructing their wardrobe to re-enchant their everyday life, wearing their blazers or trench coats fluidly and reversed, revealing bare shoulders and backs.

Others combine multiple sweatshirts to create mermaid dresses, layer pleated skirts over their ultra-long trousers, wear elongated parkas or smocks made from inverted trousers, recreate skirts and bustiers from nylon backpacks, and assemble their bras of all colors to construct a new bustier dress. A deconstructed yet coherent wardrobe, radically chic, avant-garde, and exclusive, edgy but inevitably cool, exemplified by ultra-long scarves draped over black jackets, XXL multi-pocket leather bags, or beanies pulled down over the eyes ensuring you'll definitely be noticed on the street. Accessories and garments as if ordered from eBay (whose colored letters are displayed on a navy blue ribbed knit dress worn over sweatpants) but ultra-sophisticated for urban girls with an underground nonchalance who love to dress for the pleasure of creating a quirky attitude. No grand finale, each passage is experienced as an experiment with plenty of ideas to steal. "It's absolutely beautiful," whispers my neighbor at the show. That says it all.