09-07-2025
Demna's Final Balenciaga Couture Collection Pursues "Perfection"
On Wednesday,BalenciagaunveiledDemna'sfinal collection in Paris, marking the end of the designer's decade-long tenure at the more than 100-year-old house.
'Fashion lives on the edge of tomorrow, driven not by what we know but the thrill of discovering what comes next,' Demna wrote in a hand-penned note to attendees of Balenciaga's 54th Couture collection. The profound statement reads like a manifesto, speaking beyond Balenciaga tofashionas a whole, embedded in a process of evolution. 'It is the expression of our need to evolve, to make sense of change before it arrives, to dress the future before it has a name,' he concluded.
The campaign pays tribute to the city where the designer began his fashion journey, which included a recently surfacedinternship rejectionfrom Balenciaga in 2007, before he took the helm in 2015. Recognizable faces from the Balenciaga community, includingKim Kardashian,Naomi Campbell, and Thai actorKrit Amnuaydechkornfront the editorial, situated in various street corners and landmarks of Paris.
First, the dress codes of 'La Bourgeoisie' are distilled and Demna-fied with tulip lapels and protruding shoulders. Here, 'monumental' women's tailoring reads more as armor, clad in fine fabrics. Bold prints are sprinkled conservatively, best represented in a textured houndstooth based on a 1967 design and a sequined floral inspired by a piece from the '50s.
Later, Kim Kardashian — wearing an off-white fur coat with a lace-trimmed slip dress and Lorraine Schwartz jewels — introduces a range of looks inspired by Hollywood glamour, a tribute to Elizabeth Taylor.
As more men's looks enter the mix, we're reminded of Demna's affinity for reimagining the everyday. An ultra-light silk bomber jacket, a first-ever Balenciaga Couture sneaker — handcrafted using traditional shoemaking techniques, a briefcase turned 'jewelry box' laptop case, and trompe-l'œil corduroy recall the ways that the designer loves to elevate the mundane to the extraordinary, often in a covert or tongue-in-cheek manner.
