What Demna's Balenciaga brought to French fashion

Yesterday, after a few weeks of speculation, whispers, and rampant predictions, the small gossip world on the fringes of fashion finally discovered the identity of the person who would take over the creative direction of Gucci following the unexpected departure of Sabato De Sarno. However, far from breathing a sigh of relief, insiders instead cried scandal, and for good reason: it is Demna, artistic director of Balenciaga since 2015, who will now lead the Florentine house. This move to Gucci will not be without consequences, not only in terms of fashion, aesthetics, and brand reinvention but also in terms of its impact on the turbulent fashion market. While some designers choose to split their work and oversee collections for multiple houses simultaneously, this is not the case for Demna, who has consequently announced his departure from Balenciaga after ten years of dedicated service. As the successor to Alexander Wang and Nicolas Ghesquière, Demna has managed over the past decade to make the brand his own and associate it with an aesthetic uniquely his, now inseparable from the Balenciaga name. Although we still have a few months before the Georgian designer officially takes on his new role at Gucci (where he will debut in June) and bids farewell to the Spanish house, let’s take a quick rewind of what Demna has brought to Balenciaga, and what this version of Balenciaga has brought to fashion, especially the French fashion scene.

If we think of Balenciaga in its early days, when its founder Cristóbal meticulously wove what would become the brand’s DNA and backbone, it is evident that things have changed significantly. From 1968 to 2025, through shifts in eras, creative directors, and aesthetics, Balenciaga has transformed from an elite and perfectionist couture house with serious lines into a brand that champions streetwear, elevating it to an unprecedented level of luxury and sometimes even to the status of couture. This is exemplified by the iconic t-shirts from the Pre-fall 25 collection, designed in the style of merch products aimed at fans of pop culture stars featuring the faces of its ambassadors. "Cristóbal must be rolling in his grave," said a user on X, even going so far as to call it disrespectful toward the founder, who wanted the house to close upon his death to prevent his aesthetic, legacy, and reputation from being distorted to his detriment. While opinions vary, it is undeniable that one cannot help but think of Mr. Balenciaga and the heartbreak he might feel if he saw Demna’s latest (and last) collection for Balenciaga. Indeed, the tracksuits, sleeveless puffer jackets reminiscent of the boldest “Lacostes-tn” styles, and the massive, long puffer coats akin to those of football coaches could not be further from the elegant silhouettes of early Balenciaga or even the more structured Balenciaga of Nicolas Ghesquière.

But aside from this disastrous collection, Demna has nonetheless managed to bring a fresh and invigorating wave of novelty and creativity to Balenciaga, introducing geometric silhouettes, avant-garde and innovative designs, often in black but sometimes infused with colors that have since become almost automatically associated with Balenciaga, such as electric blue, neon green, or the pink of his Cagole bag. Demna has also introduced diversity and novelty to the industry through his approach to campaigns, advertising, and especially brand ambassadors. The faces of Demna’s Balenciaga, apart from Kim Kardashian, who is the complete opposite of inclusivity and diversity, are faces marked by experience, with Isabelle Huppert and Michelle Yeoh regularly appearing in campaigns and on red carpets dressed in Balenciaga for years. While Cristóbal Balenciaga called his muses and models “monsters,” forbidding them from smiling, looking at the audience, or being visible in any way—reducing them to mere supports for the clothing—Demna has done the exact opposite over the past ten years. Aside from the infamous problematic campaign where the brand dressed children in BDSM-inspired accessories, which cost both the house and the designer significantly in terms of reputation, Demna has nevertheless presented campaigns that are simple and refined yet striking. In late January, Balenciaga unveiled its latest campaign featuring Paris Hilton and her flip phone, Alessandra Ambrosio, Amber Valletta, and Claudia Schiffer, through early 2000s paparazzi-style images digitally altered to incorporate today’s Le City bag. Already in 2018, for the spring-summer collection, Demna crafted an Oscar-worthy setup for Balenciaga, in a campaign where models appeared to be fleeing, covering their faces as if escaping the threatening and curious lens of photographers. In December 2024, the Pre-fall 2025 campaign was presented through the lens of Demna’s iPhone, partially obscured by his awkward boomer finger in front of the camera, demonstrating that a little spontaneity can sometimes be more impactful than a massive production in search of perfection.

But let's get back to what really matters—the core of the creator's work over this 10-year tenure: the clothes. In addition to his gentrification of streetwear, notably bringing collaborations with Adidas, Porsche, and more recently Puma to the runway, or collections like pre-fall 2024, which features actual sportswear, he has also contributed to the "technologization" of fashion—or the "fashionization" of technology, depending on the perspective. After organizing a virtual fashion show in 2020 to counter the pandemic and its restrictions, the digital passport for garments, and an entire collection of sweatshirts and hoodies equipped with an electronic chip allowing the wearer to listen to a selection of Demna’s favorite songs, he teamed up last July with Apple. No apple-logo-decorated sweaters this time (as he had already released in 2022), but a technological collaboration featuring a spatial computing app for Apple Vision Pro, the latest mixed reality headset from the Californian brand. Users who managed to get their hands on a model could thus relive the spring 2025 show, presented in Shanghai last May, in an immersive way with the possibility of changing the background scenario.

Between his bathrobe dresses, garbage bags used as handbags, high-heeled Crocs, Isabelle Huppert’s red tracksuit at the Venice Film Festival, or even Kim Kardashian’s full hooded bodysuit, Demna will have forever changed the history and DNA of the Balenciaga house, much to the dismay of the more conservative crowd. But what could he possibly bring to Gucci? After Sabato De Sarno’s brief and, one might say, failed tenure, the Florentine house will need a major boost to make a strong comeback. And while Demna’s long tenure at Balenciaga was a success on many levels, it’s not certain that his signature style is the best fit for Gucci’s heritage. Who knows, maybe our low expectations will be counterbalanced by a pleasant surprise. We’ll find out next June.