Happy Nice Mall

PARIS — In a cold, dark airplane hangar on the edge of Paris, Balenciaga’s one-name designer Demna had fled Georgia at the time of 12 when news broke that more than 1.5 million refugees were fleeing Europe from Ukraine. The country’s civil war built an enormous snow globe and unleashed a storm.

Fake garbage bags that looked like they were filled with stuff, their pointy-heeled boots, big black coats flying around them, men and women with their heads down mingled with the wind. A few were shivering in their boxer shorts, wearing only terry-like shawls for protection. Long dresses flowed backwards. The music hit; Lights (bombs? lightning?) flashed in the dark sky above.

Outside the window, the audience watched, holding blue and yellow T-shirts, the shadows and almost size of the Ukrainian flag laid on each seat, with a note from the designer (who also recited a classical poem in Ukrainian). — A prayer of strength for Ukraine — from the author Oleksandr Oles at the beginning of the show).

The war triggered the pain of a past trauma that I’ve been carrying inside me since 1993, when the same thing happened in my country and I became a refugee forever. Forever, because that’s something that stays with you. Fear, despair, realizing that nobody wants you.

Thus, a collection that originally meant commentary on climate change – a theme that Demna had begun to explore before the pandemic and envisioned here as a meditation on an imaginary future where snow was reduced to the status of a man-made fantasy – instead became extraordinarily powerful. response to war.

For the past week and a half, fashion has been almost apologizing for its existence; It’s about daring to deliver a pointless, useless product in the midst of a global crisis. A lot of talk has been thrown as a balm to the idea of ​​beauty; Lots of “all I can do is what I do best” kind of thing. (Also donate money and emergency supplies, of course, and Close stores in Russia.) There are many reminders of all the people the industry employs.

This is a perfectly valid answer to the situation. You can even be inspired by the project, which, like Valentino, started with a voiceover from designer Pierpaolo Piccioli and presented a hymn to the Ukrainian people: “We see you, we feel you, we love you”. A collection designed to emphasize the power of the individual.

It was built on a single tone: not black or white, but rather some kind of signature hot pink – an official Pantone color called Pink PP – this was also the tone of the walls and floor. It had a short black patch as a kind of palate cleanser, but it was the prominent pink. And it offered an update to the classic Valentino red.

Pink high platform shoes under pink tights. Pink shirt dresses that swept the floor, more like royal robes. Little cropped pink sequin dresses. Sheer pink blouses. Molded pink minis. Pink tea dresses covered with flowers. Pink bags. Everywhere you looked was pink, except for the faces, each of which stood out on its own. The effect was a little dizzying, but it made the point.

Of course, it’s okay to just get started, as Matthew Williams did at Givenchy.

She combined streetwear influences (layered t-shirts like a tour through logos; nylon hooded anoraks under tailored jackets; leather over-the-knee boots) with clichés (“Breakfast at Tiffany’s” pearls; ruffle blends) introduced for the first time by Riccardo Tisci. tulle and organza) plus its own affinity for a piece of hardware. The result was the most consistent collection ever.

Yet, as Demna has proven, designers have no reason to fear grappling with the tough stuff. In his notes, Balenciaga said he nearly canceled his show, “until I realized that canceling this show would mean giving up.” Instead, he shook it. It was a risk.

After all: very expensive leather garbage bags come dangerously close to extremely bad taste. This despite being the same designer who made very expensive versions of the Ikea bag. Part of his job is to elevate the everyday unseen to luxury status, mocking the pomp of the fashion beast.

And the fact that some models are wrapped in Balenciaga-branded cat clothing with packing tape might seem like a runway-only social media catnip gimmick.

Especially since Kim Kardashian modeled a packing tape look in viewers—an outfit (can you call it that?), that took four Balenciaga assistants half an hour, she said. Not only did the tape make sticky, squeaky noises as she walked, Ms. Kardashian said she was worried some parts might fall apart when she sat down. (Even though She said she wasn’t sure how to get to the bathroom, she wasn’t very relieved.)

Backstage, though, after the show, Demna said the tape wasn’t just a joke — it was also a nod to the dress-up experiments she had done as a rootless kid. And that they will sell the rolls in stores so that everyone can make their own look in a one-of-a-kind build and fix extreme version.

Someone who makes it clear that for her, clothes can be the least of the matter, at least in ready-to-wear. After all – a strapless denim jumpsuit made of two jeans (one’s waist formed a bustier over the other), a silk-screen dress to imitate lace, and purses made of melted double boots – most things viewed through the snow – long jersey dresses, hoodies, asymmetrical flowers , wrap-around overcoats – looked pretty much the same as it had for several seasons.

But combined with Simpsons show last season; experiments with virtual reality; previous, gripping, climate change scenarios (plus frost shows Worked with Ye); The eerie portrayal of refugees under glass confirmed Demna’s position as the fashion world’s greatest scenographer and most fearless person.

It’s not the silhouette, it’s the human condition. Epic, on the scale of popular culture.