“It felt like we needed to relax,” Demna Gvasalia explained backstage in the moments after showing Balenciaga spring/summer 18. After inviting us inside Kering HQ last season, Balenciaga took this opportunity to escape the 9-5 corporate reality with a show inside Paris’s Bois de Boulogne. “It’s the same executive man but brought out into his comfort zone.”
With his out-of-office bounceback in place and fresh from launching the brand’s summer-long takeover of Colette earlier this week with a line of everyday items including mugs, bikes, and sleeping masks, he met up with some fresh faces.
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Ignoring the “never work with animals or children” adage, Balenciaga brought their gorpcore dad-wear to life by inviting their models to bring their own children to the catwalk. “They are all their own kids, they aren’t models,” Deman added. “During the casting process, we found that many of our regular models have kids. Now, we hadn’t worked with children before so we had no idea how it would work but they loved it. They loved being in the forest, immersed in nature and playing games.”
Now, this particular public park is an infamous cruising hotspot so the family vibe was playfully perverted in true Demna style, but the overriding mood of exploration, positivity, and hope was infectious. “It’s so beautiful to see a young man with a child, it’s so hopeful, so positive. It was this sense of hopefulness that drove the season.” As the children wore hoodies and T-shirts emblazoned with “dreams” and hoodies adorned with “power of dreams” and “europa,” we could believe in a brighter tomorrow.
Credits
Text Steve Salter
Photography courtesy Balenciaga