Demna was frank about her methodology in this winter 24 series monologue.
“Balenciaga is a brand that places great emphasis on creative value, and I want to connect its past and future through this release show. Firstly, the silhouette and theme were directly inspired by Crist ó bal Balenciaga’s works, and then moved on to further exploration of fashion concepts. These concepts make up all of my works: they rethink the definition of beauty, create a recognizable style at a glance, and focus on the integration and interaction between the body and fashion.”
This cannot be said to be a precise and complex methodology, but Demna does not pretend to be profound or complex. He is passionate about presenting concepts that are always straightforward enough to make some people laugh, such as a series of semi-finished fashion pieces glued with winter 24 series tape, realistic lace printed stockings with layered misreading effects, and brand gray dust bags, shoulder bags, and nylon fitness bags that have been recycled and transformed.
These design highlights are immediately apparent and closely related to daily life. Since the issue of stretching stockings has been troubling women, it is better to launch extremely worn-out stockings products. Mobile phone screens are already inseparable from people’s daily lives, so at least a phone case with a thick bracelet can be launched to briefly free up hands.
For a mature fashion house with a strong team, it seems even more difficult to create fashion with low craftsmanship and exquisite workmanship.
Demna dares to bring plastic tape onto the runway and claims that these fashion pieces are still unfinished work in progress. He also launched a one minute crash design, where multiple pieces of clothing were transformed and sewn together into a brand new look. The hoodie at the bottom was reversed, transforming the sleeves into a mermaid tail skirt.
In luxury brands that advocate for labor-intensive production, it is not uncommon for dresses to take hundreds of hours to be made, while a one minute quick design is scarce. This irony is naturally intentional by Demna.
Once again, it is emphasized that the creative director’s presentation in a luxury brand with broad public influence cannot be compared to the creative expression of an independent designer. The platform determines the revolutionary energy level, and Demna’s accumulated personal reputation allows him to successfully sell his views and stories on this platform, which can be recognized by both his followers and brand management.
An independent designer who has not accumulated a decade of word-of-mouth experience, even if their design is superb, cannot skip the decade of experience and achieve an ideal perfect result in complex environments. The difficulty is not in making clothes, but in presenting a sufficiently challenging concept and avant-garde style to the audience through the layers of contemporary luxury goods business, leading a fashion trend, and persisting in this for ten years.
This requires a creative director with a sufficiently firm aesthetic core. “This season’s collection expresses the aesthetic concepts I have believed in since entering the fashion industry for ten years. The recognition and belonging to these concepts is precisely why fashion is so important to me.”
But just the aesthetic core is not enough. As creative directors of contemporary luxury brands, they need to have a global perspective and a true and unique understanding of the definition of luxury goods.
Demna believes that “luxury goods represent a scarcity rather than repetitive or unlimited production. The luxury goods that are truly scarce and needed in this industry are creativity itself. In my opinion, creativity has become the most precious luxury goods.”
