The creative mind behind Balenciaga’s US$2.3 billion revenue exclusively speaks to Tatler on the past, present and future of couture
We at Tatler Asia are aware of the developing controversy surrounding Balenciaga and its recent ad campaign, which has made headlines on November 29. We debated internally over whether or not to proceed as planned with the publication of this interview, which has been in the works since July for inclusion in our December 2022 issue, and has therefore already gone to print. Ultimately, we decided that the message we want to send is that we stand behind our fashion director Cherry Mui and the efforts of the editorial team, and the hours they’ve put in over the months to get this interview and make this story happen.
In the spirit of transparency, we are releasing this feature online first with this message from us, and we hope that you, as our readers, understand that we in no way condone child exploitation and that we publish this in support of good journalism and solid editorial work.
Here is the article in full, as it is printed in Tatler’s December issue.
-Jacqueline Tsang, editor-in-chief, Tatler Hong Kong
“My plan is to try not to do anything for two weeks, and to enjoy Mediterranean sunsets with Lana del Rey music in the background,” Demna tells Tatler ahead of his summer holiday, a few weeks after presenting his second haute couture collection for Balenciaga in July.
If you pay even the slightest attention to fashion business, you’ll know that, while much of the industry has struggled during the pandemic, Balenciaga gone from strength to strength. In 2019, its parent company Kering revealed that the French label was set to surpass €1 billion (approximately US$1.12 billion) in revenue; according to Bloomberg, it stood at an estimated US$2.3 billion in 2021. This seed of success was planted in 2015 when Kering approached Demna—who no longer uses his family name Gvasalia professionally, to separate his private self from his work persona—to lead the brand. Now, seven years into his tenure at Balenciaga, the Georgian designer has disrupted, if not fashion history, certainly the fashion of this generation.
In the past two years, the house has launched a multitude of groundbreaking projects. It powered up in the gaming world with its line for popular video game Fortnite, as well as its autumn-winter 2021 collection release, which was presented as a game called Afterworld: The Age of Tomorrow. The brand also blurred conventionally rigid boundaries through its crossovers and activations, including the Hacker Project with Gucci and the unveiling of its collaboration with Adidas at the New York Stock Exchange, not to mention launching an animated catwalk show, for which The Simpsons characters were cast as models.
He also popularised “ugly fashion” with the massive commercial success of his signature daddy sneakers and the rubbish bag-inspired trash pouch that made waves on social media. “I am bored of everything conventional; conventional means lazy to me,” he says. “I am interested in searching for beauty in everything, not in what society and history tells us is supposed to be considered beautiful.”