Paris, July 9, 2025. Silence. Not the absence of sound, but a charged hush that filled Balenciaga’s salon as Demna Gvasalia unveiled his final Haute Couture collection for the house — an austere farewell that marked the end of an era. After nearly a decade redefining the brand’s codes, Demna exits not with a bang, but with a whisper, leaving behind a collection that felt more ceremonial than revolutionary.
The setting was subdued. There was no music — only a chorus of voices softly reciting names, echoing like an elegy. In the front row sat Pierpaolo Piccioli, Balenciaga’s incoming creative director, quietly absorbing the room he’s soon to inhabit. Around him: a tableau of the Demna faithful — Lori Harvey, Luka Sabbat, Nicole Kidman, Cardi B (on her third day of couture), and Anna Wintour, inscrutable behind her signature sunglasses. Kim Kardashian’s seat? Empty — until she stormed the runway, not as a guest but as a model, draped in a white fur coat, satin slip, and diamond-studded Lorraine Schwartz jewelry.
The collection unfolded in a palette of monochrome ritualism — painted hands, razor-sharp shoulders, column-like necks, and archive nods in houndstooth and structured wool. Feathered collars hinted at avian surrealism. Menswear held equal weight: bomber jackets, sleek leather, square tailoring, and elongated footwear, pulling from a lexicon of both dystopia and boardroom powerplay.
Demna’s world remains intact — a synthesis of fashion and anti-fashion, authority and absurdity. The familiar silhouettes surged once more: leather-clad warriors, matrix-like suiting, and monastic blacks that have come to define his reign. Then came the curveball: princess gowns in soft pastels — pink, blue, yellow — a surprising interlude of restrained fantasy, culminating in Naomi Campbell’s appearance in sequined black, and a final architectural lace piece that mimicked a cancan skirt without its cage.
And yet, the collection offered no grand innovation, no final twist. Instead, it felt like a greatest-hits compilation, reverberating with Demna’s unmistakable codes. If it lacked surprise, it was by design. Perhaps this was not a mic drop, but a quiet closing of the book. A whisper, not a roar.
Now, with Demna en route to Gucci, the fashion world turns its eyes to Pierpaolo Piccioli. Will he return Balenciaga to romanticism? Or invent a new dialect entirely? One thing is certain: Demna’s shadow looms long — an imprint impossible to ignore in the next chapter of the house.
Photo: Balenciaga