The layers are still there, the hoodies for sure, so too the hulky shoulders. And now, towering platforms. Fans, rejoice
It was raining in Pudong, Shanghai. Balenciaga did not cancel or relocate their spring 2025 show (other maisons prefer calling theirs 'cruise'). The runway—drenched when the show started at around eight this evening—was situated directly across the Bund. In the shadow of the Oriental Pearl Tower, the venue looked futuristic, obverse to the much older, even if more romantic 外滩 (waitan or the Bund). Attendees, seated two-rows deep, were mostly carrying presumably-provided-by-Balenciaga umbrellas—black, as if at a funeral. It was not a torrent, but it was not 牛毛细雨 (niumao xiyu or, literally, rain as fine as ox hair) enough that one could sit unaffected by the rainfall to watch the show. The models were not as lucky. They did not carry umbrellas. The more fortunate few got to wear hoodies or the odd cap. The un-staged rain added an atmospheric touch to the show as fake snow once did, back in Paris, some two years ago.
While it was all the sky doing its untimely job, the gloominess was not inconsistent with Balenciaga shows under Demna Gvasalia's watch. Inclement weather is Mr Gvasalia's thing, nature in a mess, too, and to dampen the joyous. This time, the one up there saved him the trouble of employing artificial means. The rain cooperatively enhanced the hardcore bleakness that the brand is increasingly projecting. Optimists in China may consider the Balenciaga brand of darkness an attempt to 阴中求阳 (yinzhong qiuyang)—seek the yang in the ying—to score some balance, or semblance of it. But, that may not be the case. Mr Gvasalia has mostly erred on the dark or shadowy side. The looks he assembled, as before, touted the offbeat dress sense of the underbelly of impoverished outer-cities, those who reject what is considered mainstream, just as the homeless in the US are inclined to reject shelters. But in Shanghai, where well-off urbanites rule, Mr Gvasalia, appeared to be tuned into the tall and the lean of the striking cityscape.
But as with TCM thinking, if you wish to replenish the yang, you should seek it in the yin too. The yang has to be augmented by the yin to yield fortifying vitality. In that way, Mr Gvasalia did try to explore the yin, even if the yang of things remained perceptibly strong. The show started with seriously forlorn-looking clothes that mirror the overcast skies. While it was warm enough an evening (AccuWeather told us it was 21°C last night, and we saw quite a few in the front row wearing T-shirts and shorts), the opening sets (and in particular the menswear) saw dark and layered looks (and those pronounced shoulders and obligatory hoods) that only Kanye West adores, even in the height of summer. There were intermittent use of the bright and the shiny. A strange dress with shrugged shoulders, seemingly made of vinyl table cloth, communicated Viktor & Rolf. One gold foil dress was reminiscent of the one Michelle Yeo wore to the Met Gala, so was one pink wrapped number that recall Serena Williams's at the same event. Who'd guess that Balenciaga previewed their spring 2025 three and a half weeks ago?
As we have seen before, Mr Gvasalia switched up the functions of what he made the models wear or carry. Balenciaga's one-time popular puffer returned as a massive shoulder bag, so did a trench coat, and a shirt—curiously lumberjack in vibe. And there was again the technical feat of turning bags (they looked like duffles) into a top and a floor-length skirt, total wearables that were more literal than Junya Watanabe using semblance of The North Face bag parts in his outerwear. And they were the bags themselves—wacky as always, and might make more sense on the Met Gala red carpet than 南京路 (nanjinglu)—Nanjing Road, the shopping belt across the river: a shoe box as clutch or a shopper in the shape of a garment bag. To enhance the elongated and the rangy, models wore crazy platform creeper-boots that could be inspired by Qing-era 高底鞋 (gaodixie), Manchu platform shoes, heightening the brand's by-now tired dystopian disquietude. We think, when the rain stopped, we were just bored with the Demna Gvasalia aesthetic. It thrilled while it lasted.
Screen shot (top): balenciaga/YouTube. Photos: Vogue Runway
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