Photo: Estrop/Getty Images
Balenciaga presented its fall/winter collection in high apocalypse style at Paris fashion week, purposefully flooding the runway and the first few rows of seats as a pointed statement on climate change.
Models splashed through the approximate inch of water that art director Nicke Bildstein-Zaar piped onto the black catwalk, some wearing water socks while others braved the flood in stiletto heels. Balenciaga’s creative director, Demna Gvasalia, reportedly envisioned this as a nod to rising sea levels, one already-evident consequence of global warming. Other ominous touches included looming LED screens on the ceiling, which projected images of inferno skies and great squalls of crows. A very doomy overall effect, especially as a backdrop for exaggerated supervillain shoulders:
If the idea of making climate change commentary through a somewhat wasteful visual metaphor — water is not a limitless resource, after all — feels a little convoluted to you, know that Balenciaga reportedly plans to return the water it used to the city. The brand will also donate the chairs to a children’s sports center, according to Footwear News. So, all told, a fairly appropriate follow-up to Gvasalia’s Paris show in September, held in what the Cut’s Cathy Horyn described as a “modern arena that resembled a government assembly, evoked the terrors of a world controlled by soulless bureaucrats.”
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