The 5 Things You Need To Know About Balenciaga's AW19 Show

According to Balenciaga’s show notes, these clothes are for 'common daily activities' like grocery shopping, going out after work and commuting (perhaps less commonly, ‘via motorbike’).

From the frenetic pace at which models walked, to the smell of fresh tarmac, creative director Demna Gvasalia wanted to reflect fashion as he sees it on the street. For day and night. That means swaddling cocoon-wrap coats, comforting enough for the milk-run, but statement enough to qualify as capital ‘F’ Fashion.

‘When I go on the street in Paris now, this is what I see,’ said Gvasalia backstage at the show. Which is why jeans, a daywear staple, appeared among slick patent leather coats (fit for any European downpour). It’s why collars and shoulders were hitched up to the ears too, as we all do, shoulders hunched as we rush against the wind in winter. That, and the fact that those enveloping shapes are a hallmark of original Balenciaga.

Gvasalia wasn’t referencing just any street. This was a love letter to Paris. ‘I fell in love again with Paris by moving away from Paris,’ he said post-show, having left the city for Zurich in 2017.

‘I couldn’t do this without Paris,’ said Gvasalia. Just as the brand's namesake couldn’t, despite his Spanish roots (Cristóbal Balenciaga opened the first boutique in Spain in 1917, but really made his home - and his name - in Paris). ‘This is our modern vision of what the Parisian style could mean today.’

We’ve seen knock-off tourist merch in several Balenciaga shows now - Eiffel Tower totes and souvenir t-shirts - and while those elements were still present, most noticeably on menswear, this season’s homage to the City of Lights was more subtle.

There were tropes befitting of the Parisian bourgeoisie - think quintessentially ‘chic’ silk blouses styled with pumps and midi-skirts.

Gvasalia’s French tribute was also about technique: mixing ‘flou’ and ‘tailleur’, two traditional couture terms referring to drapery and tailoring. The latter opened the show with razor-sharp, yet fluid, Le Smoking style suits appearing in asphalt grey and pitch black. The shoulders, too, were pointed, offering a subtle tweak on a wardrobe classic.

‘We're using this ready moulding technique - subtle in ways, exaggerating the sleeve length. It's really more tailoring tricks that we use this new technology for,’ said Gvasalia. These suits, you’ll notice, are also missing buttons. ‘We took away the buttons, because I find buttons quite retro,’ he laughed. ‘So I tried to either hide them or take them away.’

‘Easy evening wear encompasses the idea of wearing something all night after a long day… garments and accessories take the idea of house wear outdoors,’ according to the show notes. In a nutshell, Balenciaga AW19 is about minimum effort, maximum impact.

Friends, you have Gvasalia’s permission to head outdoors in a nightdress.

Not just any nightdress. Gvasalia’s slinky separates and sheath dresses were dayglo bright, coming in duchesse satin, or sequinned with literal hoop collars. Yes, literally, with fabric falling from a circular rail that formed a boatneck (one befitting of 1960s Left Bank Beatniks. Trés French).

Models raced past show-goers in unusually close proximity. That was intentional. Because the devil is in the detail. ‘It was to force you to look at them,’ said Gvasalia. ‘Because it's very difficult to make people look at the actual clothes.’

What show-goers (hopefully) clocked was a new logo - well, several. Gvasalia mixed things up, with logos, old and new, on clothing, bags, shoes and… toe nails.

‘This isn't the time for single logo branding,’ he said. So solo ‘B’s, interlocking ‘B’s, BALENCIAGA in shouty caps, and ‘B’ clasp closures were peppered throughout the collection.

The toenails, well, you can always recreate those yourself - provided your hand is steady enough.

It was impossible to miss the models carting two, three, sometimes four carrier bags. Gvasalia is no stranger to irony, being the man who introduced DHL t-shirts and IKEA totes to fashion with his brand Vetements. Were the multiple shopping bags an ironic critique of capitalism?

With the S’well bottle-sized bags (also suited to carting [recyclable] tinnies…), alongside sad-face totes and seashell pouches, it’s believable that Gvasalia was making a comment on the impact of our behaviour (himself included). ‘The shopping bags were actually my ode to the customers,’ he said. ‘They love shopping; they do that, and I do that.’

However, Balenciaga’s parent company Kering is the 2nd most sustainable brand in the world, and Gvasalia is socially conscious, last season producing pieces featuring the World Food Programme logo, and donating a percentage of sales to the WFP. Gvasalia has also designed a capsule collection for Farfetch in support of animal conservation, and scrapped pre-collections in a bid to slow down.

‘The new, more sustainable way of working for me is not only not using toxic gas etc.,’ he told WWD last week. He added ‘my quest at Balenciaga is to create a modern luxury brand that is inclusive, that is sustainable, that is involved and avant-garde.’

If one thing’s certain, it’s that Gvasalia, and his clothing sure make you think.