Everything
If there is one skill Creative Director of Balenciaga, Demna, does better than any other house – Vetements perhaps its only contender – it’s twisting extreme normality into absurd and often confronting concepts. At Paris Fashion Week last season, the Georgian designer presented the Spring/Summer 2020 collection against a jarring all-blue backdrop, supported by a strange, dystopic soundtrack and while it was considered a nod to the E.U., the helm of Balenciaga took it one step further for its newly-released campaign.
Going viral in a matter of hours, Balenciaga released its Summer 2020 campaign depicting a news broadcast. With a futuristic – although not at all farfetched – outlook, models were presented as journalists, politicians and scientists as they seemingly discussed current affairs including water disappearing and planet realigning. Speaking in tongues, the 4-minute video is supported by an eery soundtrack and further thrusts the campaign into a post-apocalyptic universe.
Balenciaga has always distanced itself from conservative fashion and the latest advertisement move reiterates its disdain for corruption in media and in politics. And if anything, the campaign reveals a paradox between very real societal issues and ongoing consumerism, because damn, we want that blazer.
The forthcoming collection heroes avant-garde cuts with exaggerated shoulder pads, punchy additions of colour blocking and the return of the business suit to the runway.
Watch the campaign video below.
