Since taking over at the helm of Balenciaga in 2015, influential designer Demna Gvasalia has overhauled the French brand’s aesthetic. Now, he is set to change their ethos too.
Speaking backstage at the house’s Paris Fashion Week show, Gvasalia revealed his new vision for the brand and their partnership with the World Food Programme. A number of items in the collection - including logo baseball caps, bumbags and T-shirts - bear the organisation’s logo, and 10% of sales from these pieces will go to the UN charity.
‘I am tired of making prints for the sake of prints. At this stage, if I do a T-shirt or a jersey it needs to have something more to it,’ Gvasalia told The Guardian.
Gvasalia elaborated that he is focused on creating work that makes a difference, and revealed that Balenciaga had already donated $250,000 (£180,000) to the charity. ‘It was a very special project. For the first time I thought that fashion could be useful in a different way than just covering the body,’ Gvasalia expanded.
The collection as a whole was inspired by nineties snowboarders and featured a neon colour palette. Using Gvasalia’s signature take on streetwear we often seen at Vetements (where he is also Head Designer), for AW18/19 the brand mixed references from the Balenciaga archives alongside new slogan tees printed with the ‘Balenciaga hotline.’