Their collection was all about the winter of our discontent.
Balenciaga’s Winter 2022 Show during Paris Fashion Week this year paid tribute to refugees in Ukraine in its ongoing conflict with Russia.
“This show needs no explanation. It is a dedication to fearlessness, to resistance, and to the victory of love and peace,” artistic director Demna Gvasalia wrote in a letter.
It featured bold silhouettes, hybrid stretch dresses and bodysuits, modified (partially destroyed, shrunken, oversized) staples, enlarged and exaggerated accessories, reusable and alternative materials, and the brand’s exclusively developed mycelium-based material Ephea.
The snowy presentation using a protective glass screen had created a real-life 3D live stream with a 360-degree view.
Average temperatures dip below freezing in Ukraine during winter from December to March, according to the Climate Change Knowledge Portal. This coincides with Russia’s invasion.
Personal trauma
Gvasalia said that he initially thought about canceling the show despite their hard work and anticipation.
“The war in Ukraine has triggered the pain of a past trauma I have carried in me since 1993. When the same thing happened in my home country and I became a forever refugee. Forever, because that’s something that stays in you. The fear, the desperation, the realization that no one wants you. But I also realized what really matters in life, the most important things, like life itself and human love and compassion,” the artistic director wrote.
At the age of 12, he had to flee his home in Georgia during the civil war. Similarly, at least 2,155,271 refugees have fled Ukraine since February 24.
Gvasalia realized that canceling means surrendering to “the evil that has already hurt me so much for almost 30 years.”
“I decided that I can no longer sacrifice parts of me to that senseless, heartless war of ego,” Gvasalia wrote.
The show also drew links to climate change, given the presentation and its description.
“In a not-so-distant future, what was once considered ubiquitous—banal, even—is now rarefied, often only experienceable via simulation. Weather, for example, is machine-made or rendered digitally; snow is exotic. The term ‘winter’ takes on a new meaning, although imbued with nostalgia for a time of predictable seasons,” reads Balenciaga’s website post.
Balenciaga is also working with the World Food Programme to support humanitarian help for Ukrainian refugees.
Banner Photo via Balenciaga’s Instagram
