quick thought: the unhappy holiday campaign
While having been lauded as anti-fashion's "last" crusader, Demna Gvasalia, his Balenciaga and his usual guise of strategic disrespect are now being seen in a new light.
The fact is, Demna's vision does not transcend the original meaning of an object. And that is the point: spotlight and commercialise the aspects of life that mean the least to luxury fashion. Gaffer tape, keep cups, fitness mats, and bistro-style tea sets make up the gifting range. Lays Chips (the bag) and soda (the candle holders) make you fat, a garbage bag is for human discard. And our case in point, the trashed teddy bears, as though found in an alleyway dumpster in some sort of sad retrieval, or worse.
The imagery of these objects is strong and unmistakable. And perhaps wouldn't have garnered a second thought- having had the likes of Margiela and McQueen pave the way for the vulgar, the ugly, and morose everydayness at a couture level (an art in which they invariably succeeded)- if not for the newfound photographic context.
The plush bear bags debuted in the mud-strewn SS23 show alongside fake babies, acid-wash denim and oversized hoodies - general “post-apolocypse” wear - which the show is widely reported to be inspired by. So it's interesting that a publication like High Snobiety would describe the teddy bears as wearing '80s punk costumes, when clearly a heavily considered direction embedded in the world's innate wrongness has transpired here. To suggest the bears are an outlier of the collection fails to connect. By the way, we’re not humourless - teddy bear bags in dress-up, sure, we get it. It's not new either, see: Coach. But club-kid studded collars, fetish leather, and fish-net tanks are just plain warped on a symbol of innocence and security in the hands of a child.
Whether or not Demna had a say in the final art - images that would have been passed through numerous high-level eyes - we can still ask, why? Who thought this photographic direction was cool or influential, or are there simply too many 'yes' people at this hype brand? The same ones who dumped former friend of the brand, Ye, days after his own art direction calamity?
Many might think for a harmless teddy (or ill-placed props) to stir up so much controversy is absurd, but it is bigger than that. Aside from the implicit message of the images, it is deflating when a billion-dollar luxury industry, one that bolsters such historic fashion houses, becomes even more challenging for other industries to get behind.
Where social and environmental pressures like global warming and working conditions are concerned, fashion is already pressured to justify its very existence. And, oversights like Balenciaga’s Holiday Campaign turn commentators into conspiracy theorists, celebrities into traitors, and luxury fashion into a rude joke - taking its visionaries and artisans down with it.
-fin (for now)-