Demna’s Final Act for Balenciaga

For his final collection at Balenciaga, Demna paid tribute to his enduring love affair with Paris — the city where he grew as a designer, the city he continues to fall for, and the city he is now preparing to leave behind as he begins a new chapter in Milan. Read on for everything you need to know about the collection.

Pursuit of Perfection
Being a designer is no easy feat. Balancing creativity with commercial expectations, all while staying attuned to the cultural zeitgeist, demands a certain perfectionism. “This collection is the perfect way for me to finish my decade at Balenciaga. I have come as close as possible to being satisfied in this endless pursuit of impossible perfection — the defining ethos of Cristóbal Balenciaga,” Demna shared in his show notes.

Backstage, he reflected further on his personal relationship with perfection — and how, once he finally let go of the pressure to achieve it (because, after all, no one is perfect), he began to create freely. It was, he said, the most important lesson of his time at the house.

Friends and Family
The show’s casting was a roll call of familiar faces—muses and collaborators who became synonymous with Balenciaga under Demna’s tenure. Finnish icon Minttu Vesala appeared on the catwalk carrying a golden briefcase, reimagined as a “jewellery box” laptop case. Eliza Douglas closed the show in a seamless Guipure lace gown, sculpted with millinery techniques — a true showstopper.

But there were also some unexpected turns. Kim Kardashian appeared in a look that nodded to Elizabeth Taylor: a “mink” coat embroidered with feathers worn over a Cat on a Hot Tin Roof-esque silk slip, finished with diamond pendant earrings from Lorraine Schwartz’s private collection. Isabelle Huppert made her runway debut in a sculptural black jumpsuit with a Nosferatu-esque neckline.

Elsewhere, references to Marilyn Monroe and the Golden Age of Hollywood took shape in a black sequinned “Diva” gown and a pink “Debutante” princess dress, both rendered in the world’s lightest technical organza.

Suit up!
In an unexpected twist for couture, the collection included a series of tailored suits — nine in total — developed in collaboration with four family-run ateliers from Naples. Designed as “one-size-fits-all” and originally cut for a bodybuilder, the suits were then styled on models of all shapes and sizes. “It is not the garment that defines the body, but the body that defines the garment,” Demna stated in his notes.

Rise and Shine
For his final couture outing, Demna placed particular emphasis on accessories. He partnered with Lorraine Schwartz to create over 1,000 carats of bespoke high jewellery, featuring white diamonds, natural emeralds, Padparadscha sapphires, pink diamonds, and canary yellow diamonds.

Other standout accessories included two fans recreated from the archives of Duvelleroy — perhaps the most eccentric of all couture accoutrements. Brooches were crafted by Maison Lemarié and William Amor using discarded tissue paper collected from the atelier floor, alongside silk pongee. And the sneakers? The first-ever Balenciaga couture sneaker — a classic runner — was handcrafted using traditional shoemaking techniques.

Courtesy: Balenciaga 

Text: Lidia Ageeva