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Op-Ed: Is Balenciaga Socially Irresponsible?

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  • Ahimsa
    Vegan Police
    • Sep 2011
    • 1879

    Op-Ed: Is Balenciaga Socially Irresponsible?

    by Eugene Rabkin

    "The recent scandal involving the staff at a Balenciaga corner at Printemps, the Paris department store, in which it allegedly discriminated against a Chinese shopper, is reprehensible in its own right. And while the incident could be written off as a one-time faux pas that involved a particular member of staff and not so much the brand itself, there is something more unsavory about Balenciaga. Namely, it is that I find the output of Demna Gvasalia, the brand’s creative director, distasteful in the way it hijacks the aesthetic codes of the poor and dishes them out to those who can afford $800 hoodies.

    Much ink has been spilled by the fashion media about how Gvasalia has been “subverting” fashion by elevating the taste of the lower classes. It started in his first collection with the “bazar” bag, that is reminiscent of those the poor around the globe tote around, only it’s made of leather and costs $2000, and continues to an $850 shirt “inspired” by a plastic trash bag. Somehow it’s supposed to make high fashion more “real” or socially aware. In reality it does the exact opposite. No verbal gymnastics on the part of the fashion media can avoid a simple and glaring fact – fashion is in the business of selling expensive things to those who can afford it. More than anything Gvasalia’s insistence on selling the sartorial codes of the poor to the rich is reminiscent of a carnival where the rich dressed up as the poor, only now this role play takes place 365 days a year. In more familiar words to the poor, is Balenciaga “taking a piss”?

    Why do Gvasalia’s sartorial exercises that could be simply written off as camp seem offensive? Because to the poor the idea of designer fashion, like that of all luxury, is aspirational. When you grow up poor, you are only familiar with the lowest common denominator of fashion – say logoed goods from Louis Vuitton, Versace, or Gucci. These ideas of luxury are simplistic, but also honest – because to the poor fashion equals luxury, and luxury equals status. Their aspirational nature is universal, whether you are a working class British football hooligan buying your first Stone Island jacket, or a kid from immigrant Brooklyn buying your first Versace shirt. The idea that fashion can be ironic is the last thing on the mind of those who aspire to rise above the world fate has thrown them into."

    Read the full article on SZ-Mag
    StyleZeitgeist Magazine | Store
  • julian_doe
    Senior Member
    • Mar 2013
    • 339

    #2
    Originally posted by Ahimsa View Post
    Bravo.

    Faust, this was another incredible article with a great analysis of the subject. "Much ink has been spilled by the fashion media about how Gvasalia has been “subverting” fashion by elevating the taste of the lower classes." This is the concept which seems to prevail in mainstream fashion today. In my opinion, the same thing is Happening at Gucci, with Alessandro Michele.

    Although I never bother to check out Gucci runway shows, I came across the following NYT article last year:



    This article is not cheering for the designer, and it is rather proposing that perhaps the designer copied elements from Dapper Dan garments. It is VERY obvious that he did.

    How in the hell are people cheering this insipid trend of "Irony"? In my opinion, it is boring, overpriced, uninspired, and pathetic.

    I also love the fact that you discussed your first high-cost purchase. Although I didn't become a successful fashion journalist the way you did, my introduction to fashion was very similar.

    In high school (and to this day) I was a punk kid with tight jeans and huge plugs. I stumbled upon Dior Homme by Google searching for "tight men's jeans. That is, because back then I was mostly wearing women's jeans.

    I saw Hedi's runway shows and became enamored with the look. As a slender guy, I learned that there were clothes which could look great on my body. I believe I was 15 and working at an ice cream shop, when I saved enough money to buy a pair of DH jeans from SS06. I knew nothing about grading, hems, or fabrics back then, and I ordered a size 28 pair of 21cm jeans from some random website. These cost me 250 USD, and it was the most expensive garment I had ever purchased.

    When these arrived, I discovered that the 21cm hem was not tight and that I was more of a size 26 (lol). I was incredibly disappointed, because I wanted the runway look of DH. However, I didn't give up on the jeans and I took them to a tailor to hem and taper after discussing my issue on Superfuture. They were hemmed too short to get the DH look, and I ended up selling these for close to nothing later on.

    It was via Stylezeitgeist that I learned about cut, fabric, and those designers who ACTUALLY give a shit about treating garment design/construction as a an artisanal craft.

    Although I work in a VERY different field from fashion design/marketing/construction, I am an encyclopedia of information about fashion because this forum has fed my insatiable craving for information.

    Anyway, I love the fact that your articles propose all the right questions/ideas without concern for the opinion the current Hype.

    Last edited by julian_doe; 05-10-2018, 01:10 PM.

    Comment

    • supercilious
      Member
      • Apr 2014
      • 67

      #3
      From Rene Konig--
      "The cultural inventory of our age looks only too often like a dismal rubbish dump of the whim's of yesterdays fashion, succumbed to for a day and abruptly discarded. But the effort of undertaking ceaseless new beginnings can never discourage us for the human richness of continual self-renewal carries within itself its own justification"

      Faust I very much enjoyed the read, but I think I found some of your conclusions to be too subjective... I see much of what the Pop Gaude houses are doing nowadays as the same as how things have always been, except(
      as I think you've touched on before in other articles) we have established something non-material as social currency. I think a more interesting point is, what will happen when this comes to pass? Reason, along with many odd posts around this forum lead me to believe there is an ever growing void for garments of the upmost craft.

      When this comes will all of us here say "those clothes are only for those who need to harbor excess?"

      I think much of what you're arguing is just the apparent ridiculousness of how things look now, which is true-- Maybe the better point is to let the fashionable elites have their own damn misery...
      How can we love the poor instead of hate the rich?

      Comment

      • Faust
        kitsch killer
        • Sep 2006
        • 37852

        #4
        Thank you, guys.
        Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde

        StyleZeitgeist Magazine

        Comment

        • Nickefuge
          Senior Member
          • Nov 2014
          • 860

          #5
          Originally posted by julian_doe View Post
          This article is not cheering for the designer, and it is rather proposing that perhaps the designer copied elements from Dapper Dan garments. It is VERY obvious that he did.
          Gucci did give Dapper Dan his own Gucci store and capsule collection though, putting him back on the fashion map after all these years.

          "The only rule is don't be boring and dress cute wherever you go. Life is too short to blend in."
          -Paris Hilton

          Comment

          • julian_doe
            Senior Member
            • Mar 2013
            • 339

            #6
            Nickefuge, that's great! I had no idea about this, but I am glad they supported the designer.

            Now, does this say anything positive about Michele's designs? Absolutely not!

            Brands like Gucci, Vetements, LV, among most of the other mainstream brands are mostly concerned about their image instead of the quality and/or ingenuity of their garments. Moves like the one in the article you shared are great PR stunts, but at the end of the day they don't stop the cheapening of the craft which is so obviously apparent in fashion today.

            Vulgar.

            Comment

            • Nickefuge
              Senior Member
              • Nov 2014
              • 860

              #7
              I found Michele˚s Gucci garments to be quite well-made, actually. AT least better than I expected.
              But of course, it is tacky and has and has an expiration date, so to

              I gotta say though, they’re doing a good job creating their own visual world and executing it across all media channels. Many fashion labels are not as coherent as Gucci when it comes to that. But this is another topic, I’m digressing here …
              "The only rule is don't be boring and dress cute wherever you go. Life is too short to blend in."
              -Paris Hilton

              Comment

              • Faust
                kitsch killer
                • Sep 2006
                • 37852

                #8
                Originally posted by Nickefuge View Post
                I found Michele˚s Gucci garments to be quite well-made, actually. AT least better than I expected.
                But of course, it is tacky and has and has an expiration date, so to

                I gotta say though, they’re doing a good job creating their own visual world and executing it across all media channels. Many fashion labels are not as coherent as Gucci when it comes to that. But this is another topic, I’m digressing here …
                In my experience it varies greatly, from fantastically made to subpar.
                Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde

                StyleZeitgeist Magazine

                Comment

                • mrbeuys
                  Senior Member
                  • May 2008
                  • 2313

                  #9
                  Originally posted by Faust View Post
                  In my experience it varies greatly, from fantastically made to subpar.
                  I checked out the buy at Selfridges last year and, while I would never wear any of it, everything I touched was quite exquisite and put a smile on my face. Don't think there's anything wrong with Gucci*. Vetements and Balenciaga on the other hand...

                  *not entirely true
                  Hi. I like your necklace. - It's actually a rape whistle, but the whistle part fell off.

                  Comment

                  • Ahimsa
                    Vegan Police
                    • Sep 2011
                    • 1879

                    #10
                    Originally posted by mrbeuys View Post
                    I checked out the buy at Selfridges last year and, while I would never wear any of it, everything I touched was quite exquisite and put a smile on my face. Don't think there's anything wrong with Gucci*. Vetements and Balenciaga on the other hand...

                    *not entirely true
                    My big gripe with Gucci, and I think I've probably mentioned this somewhere else on this forum, are the things like that 25K dress they had a few seasons ago that Anna Dello Russo was seen wearing. The thing was something like 85% poly and the embroidery was done with appliques. So not to say the quality wasn't there, but the process for embroidery at that price point was all wrong (should have been done directly on the garment) and I understood the poly for the fabric amount/pleating action but that could have been done with a much better fabric cause no one is gonna wear that thing often enough for the pleats to be in danger of coming undone.

                    So I guess this kind of echo's Faust's point of either being well made or kind of a slap shod. But if its price point is gonna be that of a new car...
                    StyleZeitgeist Magazine | Store

                    Comment

                    • julian_doe
                      Senior Member
                      • Mar 2013
                      • 339

                      #11
                      I don't even think that it has to do with a material being synthetic, look at OM/2491 by Poell. It has more to do with execution...why is a patched up synthetic bomber jacket worth thousands?

                      When did "fashion" become so insipid?

                      Comment

                      • Nickefuge
                        Senior Member
                        • Nov 2014
                        • 860

                        #12
                        At the end of the day, plastic is plastic and I don’t care about any intellectual concept behind it’s usage – it’s just fuckinrg stupid to use it in this day and age. Designers have to look beyond their egos and start caring for the environment when it’s their industry that’s causing a huge percentage of global pollution.
                        "The only rule is don't be boring and dress cute wherever you go. Life is too short to blend in."
                        -Paris Hilton

                        Comment

                        • Sombre
                          Senior Member
                          • Jan 2009
                          • 1291

                          #13
                          This is a great article, Faust. You've expressed some of what I despise about Gvaslia's work. It's lazy, derivative, childish, and dishonest. IMO he's creatively bankrupt for all the reasons you've stated and more. To pretend to be self-aware by inverting the expectation of luxury while blatantly copying the poor and the "uncool" (those sneakers, fanny packs) only achieves the opposite, especially given the growing financial gulf between the haves and the have-nots - among other tense social issues. It's the fashion equivalent of white people dressing in black face on Halloween (I know the trend isn't racially motivated but the comparison still stands). It reminds me of when Austin Sherbanenko said he took inspiration from homeless people because they look good wearing everything they own.

                          I don't think there's anything redeemable about any of Gvaslia's work from an artistic point of view. His designs represent some of the worst of the industry, which is blindly following something because the cognoscenti deem it trendy. Unfortunately that means this latest garbage will become wildly popular and be a slap in the face of people who are just trying to make an honest living.
                          An artist is not paid for his labor, but for his vision. - James Whistler

                          Originally posted by BBSCCP
                          I order 1 in every size, please, for every occasion

                          Comment

                          • julian_doe
                            Senior Member
                            • Mar 2013
                            • 339

                            #14
                            Originally posted by Nickefuge View Post
                            At the end of the day, plastic is plastic and I don’t care about any intellectual concept behind it’s usage – it’s just fuckinrg stupid to use it in this day and age. Designers have to look beyond their egos and start caring for the environment when it’s their industry that’s causing a huge percentage of global pollution.
                            "lol"

                            What the hell is Gucci, the brand you seem to be defending, doing to exemplify such an environmentally conscious approach?

                            Of course, private companies are reluctant to release information about their supply chain and it would take a lot of investigative reporting to find supporting data. But it is VERY safe to say that a company like Gucci is less concerned about the environmental impact of their fabrics/manufacture than an artisanal brand like M.A+, BBS, or Poell.

                            Comment

                            • Nickefuge
                              Senior Member
                              • Nov 2014
                              • 860

                              #15
                              How am I defending Gucci when the post you were quoting was referring to the 20k poly dress?
                              "The only rule is don't be boring and dress cute wherever you go. Life is too short to blend in."
                              -Paris Hilton

                              Comment

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