Extravagant designs by creative director Demna Gvasalia lit up a rainy Shanghai. Check out the new collection from the renowned fashion house.
Balenciaga unveiled its Resort 2025 collection, designed by creative director Demna Gvasalia in the Paris atelier. The company revealed the new collection at the Museum of Art Pudong in Shanghai, aiming to strengthen its position in the crucial Asian high fashion market.
In a dimly lit, rain-soaked exterior, 58 silhouettes for men and women were showcased, ranging from sportswear and oversized suits to haute couture. Each design bore the signature extravagance and avant-garde style characteristic of the Georgian designer’s work at Balenciaga. The fashion house is still recovering from a PR mishap in 2022 involving a controversial campaign with children and BDSM themes. In China, they attempted a comeback with a cyberpunk style, enhanced by rain and a dark night sky. Front-row guests included actresses Sophie Marceau and Michelle Yeoh.
The show opened with models in monochromatic pieces featuring Gvasalia’s signature oversized cuts. Alongside outerwear with broad shoulders, the collection included massive leather shoes, large shopping bags, leather jackets, low-rise jeans, graphic tracksuits, trench coats, and sportswear in sleek cuts and subtle palettes in collaboration with Under Armour. The sneakers stood out with their 17-cm platforms.
The finale surprised with striking women’s dresses that would not be out of place in a haute couture show.
Balenciaga, a luxury fashion house based in Paris, was founded by designer Cristóbal Balenciaga in 1919. The designer from San Sebastián created models for the Spanish royal family and aristocracy until the civil war forced him to close his shops in the country. He then lived and worked in the French capital.
Now part of the Kering portfolio, the fashion house was later led by Nicolas Ghesquière and Alexander Wang, but it was Georgian designer Demna Gvasalia who brought it back to the pinnacle of the fashion industry with his avant-garde and extravagant ready-to-wear collections.
