Translated by
Paul Kaplan
Posted in
April 19, 2021
The vaccination campaign unfolding in Europe is sparking renewed optimism among fashion designers. At Balenciaga, Demna Gvasalia gives free rein to this new hope in her Winter 2021 pre-collection, presented on Sunday with a discreetly entertaining video titled “Feel Good” and a lookbook worthy of Amélie Poulain.
Made in collaboration with artists Kamilya Kuspanova and Anton Bialas, this three-minute video is nothing more than creating an atmosphere; moreover, it does not include Balenciaga signature clothing or accessories. You can admire the view of the ocean, the beautiful mountains, the sunsets, the galloping wild horses and a dozen paratroopers holding hands during the usual jump. In this soothing video, the beauty of the planet is proclaimed through images of feeding manta rays, open flower petals, dolphins gracefully leaping over the waves, and young children playing with donkeys or chickens in the courtyard. An unseen narrator slowly whispers the words “live, old, free, together,” accompanied by a layer of synthetic sound.
As for the clothes themselves, they are appended to the lookbook signed by Patrick Welde. Photographed on a green background, the model is then cropped and placed in front of an unmissable tourist panorama. In the collection, there is no trace of a collaboration with Gucci, another subsidiary of the Kering group, which was inaugurated on Thursday by the Italian brand.
First outfit: A set consisting of a matching hoodie and a candy pink dress, which reads “Gay Pride”, worn with oversized faded denim pants. Model, of very strict appearance, poses in front of the Tower of Pisa.
Outside Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate, a young woman wears an oversized black Balenciaga t-shirt, with the words “Founded in 1917” on it. Through the lookbooks, we explore the planet: from the Pont des Arts in Paris to the Taj Mahal in Agra, passing by the Atomium in Brussels, the Hollywood signs in Los Angeles and the Parthenon in Athens, without forgetting the Saint Square. -Marc, Mount Fuji and the Sydney Opera House are like the parks that travel the world in Amélie Poulain’s Le Fabuleux Destin. “Through these images, the collection spreads around the world, anticipating a return to international travel,” explained the Georgian designer.
In front of Big Ben, the thick leather jacket worn as jogging pants; in front of the Eiffel Tower, an eccentric model dressed in a denim ensemble, consisting of a jacket and jeans worn like a wide dress, and pretending to hold the arrow between her fingers. We will remember this man in torn jeans, worn under an impressive pale gray coat, in front of an impressive Aztec temple, or the young girl in a faded denim coat in front of the Duomo in Milan.