BALENCIAGA

After a year of impressive highs—including a spectacular revival of its haute couture, which dominated the most recent Met Gala red carpet—Demna scored another win for Balenciaga with one of the most talked-about shows for spring/summer 2022; one in which he blurred the boundaries between fashion and entertainment, the highbrow and the pop. He did it with a surreal tongue-in-cheek show that turned the red carpet into the main event, spectators into participants, models into celebrities, and celebrities into models. The clothes are a continuation of the Demna vocabulary for Balenciaga: Individualistic and underpinned by a grungy, subversive kind of glamour. As befits the red carpet, there are giant gowns—pleated, ruffled, padded and glittering. There is also boxy tailoring, powerful in its exaggerated proportions, as well as tracksuits and dressing gowns elevated into evening-worthy statements.