Demna bows out at Balenciaga with star-studded final show in Paris | Balenciaga

Kim Kardashian modelling an off-shoulder pretend mink coat impressed by Elizabeth Taylor. Nicole Kidman and Kyle MacLachlan nattering on the entrance row. And an look from Mrs Bezos herself.The celebrities had been all the time going to align in Paris for Demna’s closing present at Balenciaga. And on Wednesday lunchtime, essentially the most controversial and copied designer in trendy trend bowed out after a decade with a present that conformed to the concept of couture as a lot because it challenged it.Backstage, Demna spoke with aid about “leaving this metropolis that I really like and hate for good” when he strikes to his new job at Gucci in Milan subsequent week. However earlier than then, he needed to “make couture related”.Democratising couture isn’t straightforward. These items is handmade to exacting guidelines and wildly costly. However the plan was to make use of the present as a stage and the garments as costumes for social commentary. Earlier scorching subjects have included local weather change, swag-wars and AI. On Wednesday it was a examine of the related costume codes of “La Bourgeoisie” – and the moneyed few sat right here who fork out for it.The stage itself was Cristóbal Balenciaga’s former condo, restored to its plush Nineteen Sixties cream glory when the Georgian designer launched couture in 2021.On the glamorous finish had been a sugar pink debutante costume produced from the world’s lightest organza, and a sequinned skirt swimsuit primarily based on – what else – Demna’s grandma’s kitchen tablecloth. Little question Mrs Bezos had her eye on the elegant corset clothes which got here with out boning, “so you may really breathe”, he stated.Well-known for flipping conventional notions of magnificence by casting fashions of all ages and sizes, out got here 9 Neapolitan fits with out shoulder pads and modelled by bodybuilders as a result of “it isn’t the garment that defines the physique, however the physique that defines the garment”.Demna (second from left) in June on the Paris menswear spring/summer time 2026 present with (from left) Guram Gvasalia, Tori Brixx and Wealthy the Child. {Photograph}: Pierre Suu/Getty ImagesThere adopted references from Demna’s best hits, together with a seam-free puffer coat and couture trainers, whereas references from Cristobal’s got here within the shapes and lengthy sleeves; the present ended with a cream, bell-shaped Guipure lace robe which referenced the size of Balenciaga’s from the Fifties.Few designers have had the cultural attain of Demna, who was made artistic director at Balenciaga in 2016 after stints at Maison Margiela, Louis Vuitton and his personal label, Vetements.Throughout his profession right here, he has orchestrated frenzies round strange objects resembling Crocs and Ikea Frakta luggage, upending the that means of excellent style whereas infuriating critics by whacking four-figure value tags on to distressed trainers.Supposed as a joke and a commentary on the hierarchy of worth, it proved a very profitable gag for Balenciaga’s father or mother firm, Kering, turning into a billion-dollar megabrand.For some, Demna by no means recovered from allegations that he had condoned baby exploitation in a collection of advertisements involving BDSM imagery and kids in 2022. On the time, he took duty, though the scandal dented each hype and gross sales for a while.Finally, it predicated a transfer away from his extra viral designs, which had begun to distract, and he turned extra centered on his expertise as a designer.skip previous e-newsletter promotionSign as much as Trend StatementStyle, with substance: what’s actually trending this week, a roundup of one of the best trend journalism and your wardrobe dilemmas solvedPrivacy Discover: Newsletters could comprise data about charities, on-line advertisements, and content material funded by exterior events. For extra info see our Privateness Coverage. We use Google reCaptcha to guard our web site and the Google Privateness Coverage and Phrases of Service apply.after e-newsletter promotionHe is succeeded by the comparatively safer designer, Valentino’s Pierpaolo Piccioli. Demna’s again catalogue will proceed to polarise, however his legacy is indeniable. As Demna stated: “I’m so exhausting on myself – however I couldn’t do higher than this at Balenciaga.”Was this Giorgio Armani’s final ever assortment? Final month, for the primary time within the designer’s historical past, the designer missed his Milan reveals attributable to to ailing well being.The plan had been a precautionary one, a relaxation earlier than this present. So a no-show from the designer at his present on the firm headquarters this week, coupled with visibly emotional fashions ambling like Erté sketches down the catwalk, definitely despatched tongues wagging.In an try and cease the hearsay mill, the 90-year-old designer defined his absence to a handful of reporters in an e mail: “Despite the fact that I wasn’t in Paris, I oversaw each facet of the present remotely through video hyperlink, from the fittings to the sequence and the make-up”. His absence, he stated, was on the behest of his of his docs: “Though I felt able to journey, they really useful extending my relaxation.”No matter whether or not you possibly can afford an Armani swimsuit, certainly one of his legacies has been encouraging girls to put on trouser fits. And on the present, among the many sculptural peplums and slithery robes with outsized bows, got here tuxedos in funereal black. Ostensibly glamorous variations of the menswear he started within the Nineteen Eighties, there was additionally a finality to them.Eager to manage the narrative of his £10bn Armani empire, of which he’s a sole shareholder, he was fast to remind us that “the whole lot [we saw] … has been completed beneath my route and carries my approval”.