Racism accusations against Demna Gvasalia

These days there is a name dominating on all the front pages of the international fashion press. It’s the one of Demna Gvasalia, the designer at the helm of Vetements design collective that last Sunday debuted in Paris as Balenciaga new creative director.

In addition to the (numerous) odes addressed to his visionary work, there is a controversial issue emerged today in the media that is being discussed. Some members of the American press – which has always been particularly sensitive to the racial issue – have denounced the lack of black models on the designer’s catwalks. 

Although in both of the shows staged by Gvasalia there was actually no black model, these are not isolated cases. Why such obstinacy against a successful personality, who, with his subversive style, has monopolized the fashion industry in recent months?

Although Oscar Wilde taught us that, for the good or the bad, the important is to be talked about, at this time Gvasalia doesn’t certainly need further publicity. 

If we want to dig deeper into the issue, it sounds almost ironic: Gvasalia has always put the focus on the fact that his models don’t do it as job, they are street-casted or just close friends – see dj Clara 3000 or stylist Lotta Volkova.  

Therefore, on a catwalk like Vetements, where the more traditional aesthetic standards are deliberately dismantled, is it necessary to raise a racial controversy? Is it really a catwalk of this kind the yardstick to fight the prejudice about models of color?

If the models on the catwalk had been too thin or too stereotypical, there would have probably been another critique. In this specific case, we are dealing with a brand that, since its inception, has radically reconsidered the aesthetic clichés that characterise the industry, making the faces of its shows closer to the final consumer. 

Gvasalia comes from Soviet Georgia, and his collections have never hidden explicit references to Eastern Europe. This is the reality the designer knows and wants to reflect, also through the choiche of the models who embody those creations on his catwalks.

Indeed, among Vetements' friends and fans there are Rihanna and Kanye West, two icons of the black culture in the world. Will Demna allow himself be influenced by the criticism emerged today?

Appointment to the next season to find this out.