What's happening between Apple and Balenciaga

Balenciaga's latest show was littered with hints of an imminent collaboration between Apple and the hottest fashion brand of the moment, but is this really it or is this yet another pop provocation by Demna Gvasalia? Instead of the traditional paper invitation, the creative director decided to send broken iPhone 6 engraved with, in addition to the logo, the place, date and time of the show, while in the days leading up to the show the brand's Instagram account had published a Reel in which the graphics of Siri, Apple's voice assistant, were filmed. In addition, during the FW22 collection, a model walked down the runway wearing a hoodie with a print of an apple (no bite) and the motto "Be Different", which echoes the slogan of the well-known technology company "Think different".

The relationship between Gvasalia and Apple has been largely established in the music sphere in the past, when in 2020 Balenciaga joined Apple Music after Demna curated a playlist to accompany the "Hello, My Name Is Demna" merchandise and when in 2021 Rammstein tried their hand at a special playlist for the brand. However, the so-called Balenciaga x Apple collaboration has not yet been confirmed by either brand and also seems rather unlikely. 

More plausibly, the references to Apple are part of a strategy already widely perpetrated by Demna with The Simpsons last spring, the reworking of western millennial culture through the symbols that constitute its apotheosis. A self-ironic operation of trolling the totems of capitalist culture carried out first with Vetements and then with Balenciaga to the tune of memes and shrewd collaborations with the idols of pop culture, such as Kim Kardashian and Kanye West. At the same time a celebration and satire of a system that Balenciaga, thanks to Demna, managed to dominate.