Can Balenciaga bounce back?

The fashion world went into turmoil in 2022, when one of the biggest fashion houses in the industry found itself in a big controversy. Now the same fashion house is trying to make a comeback and dig itself out of the ‘cancelled’ grave. 

In November 2022, luxury fashion house Balenciaga faced major scrutiny for two controversial ad campaigns. The holiday ad campaign—Gift Shop—featured children photographed with teddy bears in harnesses and costumes that were perceived as BDSM references. This caused outrage on social media and before we knew it, #cancelBalenciaga was trending on Twitter. The second ad campaign for the spring/ summer 2023 campaign, mere days after the first, showed a bag from the collection along with US Federal documents concerning child pornography. 

 
Two controversial campaigns in a month were enough to rattle people. A social media trend commenced which showed people destroying their Balenciaga merchandise. Several celebrities, including Kim Kardashian and Julia Fox, who previously supported the brand, condemned its choices publicly. The result? The sales of the brand plummeted. The brand's creative director, Demna finally spoke up in December; he condemned child abuse and apologised for the brand's creative actions, which he added, were not intentional.

Despite all this and through it all, the brand still had an army of supporters. Some celebrities like Nicole Kidman, Dua Lipa, and Salma Hayek, that are associated with the brand, were extremely reticent about the situation. This large but silent following of the brand kept them sustained, even through media scrutiny. 

After a short hiatus and retraction of the two ad campaigns, the brand and its parent company, Kering Foundation, announced on the official Instagram account that they would partner with the Nation Children’s Alliance, for a multi-year programme. The Instagram story said, “Support from Balenciaga will enable NCA to train 2,000 professionals specialised in Child Abuse and up to an estimated 55,000 children will benefit by receiving evidence-based mental healthcare over the three-year programme.” Even after this, the question remained, whether Balenciaga would actually be able to relieve themselves of the controversy that clouded them. 

We found our answer on the Cannes red carpet 2023. After the brand was tight-lipped for months, we saw stars like Michelle Yeoh and Isabelle Huppert wearing Balenciaga. Considering the controversy that surrounded the brand, not six months ago, there was barely any real negative backlash about it post the red carpet event. 

Shortly after, Balenciaga announced the digital campaign for their Spring Summer 2024 collection named Capital B. The digital show was showcased as a five-minute video on YouTube on May 30. It presented the new collection in the form of ‘passerby’ against the backdrop of the first Balenciaga fashion house in Paris, which the founder, Cristóbal Balenciaga called “Le Dix”.

Balenciaga has found a way to adapt and evolve—whether it is being one of the first to use the digital medium to showcase its collection or centering its Autumn Winter 2020 show on climate change. The fall and rise of Balenciaga are forthcoming, with positive reactions to the style in which their fashion relates to the world. Demna is known to push boundaries in his work, but he cannot afford a misstep. That said, Balenciaga is far from dead in the fashion world.

Feature Image: Diljit Dosanjh