It’s a rare fashion season when you can cross-reference Balenciaga and Stella McCartney, two Paris runway shows that tackled office wear in very different ways, while both arriving at a sexy secretary archetype.
Demna’s wears higher, pointier heels with her denim pencil skirt, and a tight white shirt with a built-in corset, laced all the way up the back. To run out for Starbucks coffee or an Erewhon smoothie on a chilly day, she can throw on a lightweight pink puffer with bustier detailing and a fuzzy, face-hiding hood.
Meanwhile, men’s business suits can be pristine, moth-eaten, or horribly wrinkled as if slept in through several ultra long-haul flights.
There were hardcore moments in this Balenciaga show, but fewer than in the past, and a less bombastic set: A maze of tall black curtains sheltering tight rows of chairs, meaning VICs had to tuck in their feet, shod in gigantic Platform and 10XL sneakers, or risk tripping the models as they whisked by at breakneck speed.
Come fall, Balenciaga devotees will come down to earth, sporting ultra-flat Speedcat sneakers in worn-out suede, part of a Puma collaboration unveiled on Sunday night.
Other than the squishy, low-tech shoes and some skimpy Spandex “swim dresses,” this collection saw Demna largely treading water with his familiar clothing archetypes across streetwear, tailoring and special-occasion dressing, albeit with more controlled volumes.
“I wanted to include everything I love,” he said in a backstage scrum, held in another narrow black corridor.
The designer titled his collection “Standard” to connote a focus on mostly “banal” garments, their standard fits twisted “into a fashion context,” according to the show notes. Hence, logo T-shirts stamped Standard were roughly hacked away to become the kind of barely-there gym tops bodybuilders wear.
On the flip side, one hoodie was extended into a flaring, monastic robe, a silhouette echoed in a series of wool and faux fur coats with face-framing collars and futuristic airs.
One white double-face cashmere coat with a built-in scarf collar felt like the quiet luxury Demna usually rebels against. Peak-lapel wool coats for men sprouting hoods felt more on-brand.
Quarter-zip sweaters were worn back-to-front, giving another striking face-framing effect and echoing the zippered décolletage house founder Cristóbal Balenciaga made for Bunny Mellon.
Meanwhile, the tracksuits and activewear felt standard-issue Demna, and less oversized than usual and therefore more approachable.
During the scrum, the designer allowed that his fall collection was sexier than usual, a register he started flirting with for spring. “I feel better with myself, so I dare more to go into places where I haven’t been yet,” he said.
That includes wearing a black suit, instead of his customary hoodie.
“Maybe I’m like Demna version 2.0,” he mused. “Maybe I grew up enough to wear a suit as a designer.”
However, that was not the case last January, when Rachida Dati, France’s minister of culture, decorated the creative director as a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters, pinning the green medal on his artfully decayed black T-shirt.
“I wanted, for the first time in history of this beautiful country, that the Legion of Honor would go on a T- shirt. And that was my idea,” he said, confessing “she actually pierced me a little bit.”
