Demna breaks new ground on granny’s table

Models marched along Demna’s grandmother’s dining table Monday, extended to be 70-meters-long, and built in front of Napoleon’s Tomb in his show for Balenciaga on Monday evening.
 

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The latest epic runway show from the Georgia-born designer, stemming from very personal memories of drawing looks on cardboard as a pre-teen 35 years ago then staging childhood shows on his granny’s mahogany table in Sokhumi.
 
A highly personal and experimental show by the designer who keeps stretching himself the most in fashion today. Showing untried techniques in an opening lingerie section – not quite the looks one expected in a display for grandma, but no harm in that.

A designer known for his subversive blend of volume, street and couture instead focusing on fragility, femininity and lace. Though creating everything in revolutionary trompe l’oeil – embroideries on skin tone-based fabrics and jacquard used on knitwear. Though, inevitably, adding an extra dose of subversion with loosely tied corsets ribbons at the back of several dresses exposing acres of flesh.
 
“Direct sex appeal, lace and trim is not really my aesthetic,” Demna chuckled among a mob of editors post-show.
 
His other big idea was the cocoon – though once again in a very new manner, carefully avoiding any retro connotations by created very short jackets that ended halfway up the torso, rather than something traditionally long. Again, technically audacious as they were super light yet kept the shape with neoprene interfacings. And all paired with jeans featuring anatomical darting.
 
And like so much he has done for Balenciaga, sure to be highly influential.
 
Another brilliant innovation was his new imperial superhero coats finished with high 17th-century Medici collars, which were, in fact, made of women’s corsets engineered into the neckline and stretch around.
 
“I love the idea of multiple functions in the same garment,” beamed Demna, who also showed a bizarre series of clip-on garments, that held on elastically to the body like bracelets. 
 
“It’s a project we have been working on for a year. I am actually very proud of them. Not to be put on, but to be snapped on,” beamed Demna, wearing a hoodie from the collection which read ‘Human Being’.

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At one point, his show suddenly went into overdrive, as ‘Gimme More’ by Britney Spears boomed out of the speakers. And the clothes, too, became about more and more, as each model became overloaded with extra garments. Baggy pants, hoodie, plaid shirt, T-shirt, trench-coat and triple jackets – jeans, blazer and suit – all on one look. There is nearly always a sense of the refugee in any Demna show, but in this case, it looked like they had come from collecting their own dry-cleaning.
 
Which is perhaps why so many editors, fashionistas and, for sure, critics love Demna since so many of them feel slightly like refugees from the straight established order themselves.
 
“I like a mess when it is organized. Fashion must be so perfect, polished and impeccable – from clothes to how we sell. But to me, fashion needs to get messed up, fucked up and thrown into places and not based on fear… And what I wanted to say with ‘Gimme More’ is that everyone always wants more, and people want so much more from you,” the designer added.
 
Asked why his invitation included a gold ring, he responded, “Today felt like a homecoming to this obsession, this marriage to fashion, to this job…. It’s probably my longest relationship, which is weird to say.” 
 
Altogether, this show was a fantastically powerful display, and a real fashion moment, held on the penultimate day of Paris Fashion Week. 
 
Demna remains unconditionally inspired by youth culture, yet keeps stretching himself each season; another reason he remains one of the half-dozen most important designers today.