“With Demna, I felt the intensity of his vision, which is powerful. With Piccioli, I felt emotion.”
Recently, I have been seeing endless posts about Balenciaga’s 55th couture show held on July 8th at Georges V. Like many others, I was interested to see how the changing of the guard from Demna to Pierpaolo Piccioli would affect the house.
Turns out the answer is: A LOT.
As a couture novice, I have never known a Balenciaga without Demna. In my mind they have been synonymous for all of time. When I began diving further into fashion in the mid-2010’s Demna was simultaneously upending the ready-to-wear market with his alien-esque silhouettes and ugly trainers. His unique perspective on proportion forcefully pushed Balenciaga into the 21st century and gave one of the oldest couture houses a much-needed veneer of “cool”. Young celebrities began sporting Demna’s clothing, a sure sign he was winning the war of contemporary approval, despite ruffling a few, old-guard feathers.
It was only recently, after reading The Master of Us All, an excellent biography of the mysterious and incredible Cristobal Balenciaga, I began to understand more of the brand’s storied history. I hadn’t even realized it had a couture house! I know, shame on me. For some reason, ugly trainers never screamed “couture” to me. And before you fashion purists start in on me - I know the trainers weren’t designed under the couture label. Even so, the ready-to-wear line is influenced by what the couture side is creating, especially when headed by the same designer.
With the surprise move from Balenciaga to Gucci after ten momentous years, I went back to educate myself on Demna’s Balenciaga, so I could better understand his approach before I watched Pierpaolo’s inaugural couture collection, so I could witness the evolution with my own eyes.
Here are the words I scribbled down as I watched Demna’s 52nd, 53rd, and 54th collections for the house of Balenciaga:
Architectural
Uninhibited by the shape of the body
Structural
Monochromatic or color blocked
Severe
An expression of the extremes of what clothing can do: extreme colors, extreme shapes, extreme proportions
Pushing the envelope of what has been done before
Creative textiles - textiles made to look like fur coats
No embroidery? No beadwork?
Taking Napolitan tailoring to the extreme
Otherworldly in an alien/foreign way
Almost seemed like he was trying to transcend the female/male form and create something new
Structure, structure, more structure
And here is what I wrote down watching Pierpaolo’s 55th collection stream down the runway:
So much texture (muppet pants!)
Plays with opacity of the textiles
Still structural, but somehow less severe
Volume
So much movement!
More nuance of shape and color
It’s almost as if Demna was an absolutist and PP accepts nuances exist in life
Made me smile
Beauty of the female form
Willing to show the shape of the body
Able to identify more of the classic couture techniques in the clothing
Structure married with movement
With Demna, I felt the intensity of his vision, which is powerful. With Piccioli, I felt emotion. I even smiled at a certain point, just pleased as punch to see such beautiful pieces moving along the space.
With his first show officially complete, it seems Piccioli is drawing a very strong line underneath the Demna era. The changing of the guard became even more apparent when, at the end of the show, he walked out flanked by the entire Balenciaga couture team. It is rare to see the artisans behind the dresses therefore moving to have such a well-known designer applaud his team while the audience applauded him.
I respect what Demna created at Balenciaga and his unique point of view. However, I salivate to think of the next round of ethereal confections Piccioli will deliver in January. If it is anything like his first show, it will be transcendent.
I cannot wait.
Until next time,
Elise
