“Presence is the key. Now is the answer.” These fragments of speech were intoned somewhere midway during the overwhelming onslaught of computer-generated imagery that bombarded the audience seated in a tunnel at the Balenciaga show. “I always had this idea of a video tunnel, like being inside someone’s digital mind,” said Demna Gvasalia. “Fashion shows are for transporting people, otherwise there’s no point. It was like working on a movie, getting people into another reality, so it stays as a memory.”
The project came together when he met digital artist Jon Rafman at Art Basel. Rafman was on hand to talk about the creation of the immersive experience. It had the audience so stunned that people were transfixed in their seats for a good few seconds after it ended, trying to process what they’d just seen. “My work explores new technologies and how our society, our consciousness, our interrelationships have changed,” Rafman said. He and Gvasalia collaborated at a distance, with full creative freedom given to the artist. “It was a marriage of kindred spirits,” Rafman added.
Well, being in that tunnel, you couldn’t help but feel you were present. Dealing with focusing on the present, with all the roiling complexities, dissonances, and noise and distractions of the world around us provided the backdrop for the collection. This time, Gvasalia was intent on tackling what modern clothing might be and how it can rationally make sense to a new generation. “I wanted to take a lot of things that are in our vocabulary, but give it this new dimension of elegance,” he said.
The first looks out were a continuation and refinement of the 3-D molding technique Gvasalia introduced last season: a series of femme-fatale replicants in strong-shoulder, nipped-waist coats. Given the visual drama of the digital magma erupting all around, it could have strayed into a dystopian sci-fi zone, but Gvasalia had other ideas. “We challenged ourselves to make tailoring for today’s generation. How can they wear a suit—which they never do?” he explained. The solution he called “neo-tailoring”—fluid shirt-jackets with matching trousers, for men and women alike. “It’s like a jogging suit, but it looks super-elegant in shape. There’s no obligation to wear a shirt and tie, because the jacket has become the shirt. Somehow,” he said, laughing, “this is what I want to wear myself.”
Possibly what has been missed in Gvasalia’s career so far—what with the way he’s been responsible for the rise of hoodies and dad trainers, and the new wave of ironic logomania—is that he’s also an innovator in cut and pragmatic problem solving. With this collection, the emphasis was far more on creating new silhouettes—squared shoulders, a different iteration of the “C-line,” creating a pulled-back cocoon cut with collars shooting forward to cover the face.
Yes, there was a smattering of logos to keep the Balenciaga market for that ticking over. But far more interesting was Gvasalia’s consideration of how to cut and drape a red dress out of a single four-meter piece of silk, and the way he came up with two-piece evening suits in the shape of a shirt and a sarong skirt. “It’s really about how you make a beautiful shape with minimal effort,” he said. “That is a large part of Cristóbal Balenciaga’s legacy. A large part of the season is about that, but I didn’t go to the archives for it. I’m interested in making clothes for today that people will want to wear. And I’m finding I really love fashion again.”
