Demna: Who, Why and How

Demna – the name everyone obsesses over. Who changed the trajectory of Balenciaga and arguable influenced a lot of what is mainstream fashion today. In my humble opinion someone who’s a clever businessman, but whose work I don’t personally like.

His unexpected move to Gucci had everyone taking to Instagram.

 But who is he, what exactly has he done at Balenciaga that was so controversial, and why should (or shouldn’t) you care?

 Lets deep dive into this designer.

Born 1981 in Georgia (making him now in his early 40s) Demna Gvasalia had a tough first few years of life.

There was an ongoing war in Abkhazia, between the Georgian government & the paramilitary, and at the age of 10 his family and himself fled the ethnic cleansing of Georgians that was taking place. His own home was destroyed in bombings before he undertook a journey to the capital city of Georgia, Tbilisi. Moving around the family lived in Ukraine and Moscow, where being a young gay man was extremely difficult under prevailing social expectations of ‘macho men’ and a strong religious culture. Finally moving to Germany in 2001.

Now, we’ll get into his very recognisable design aesthetic as we go on, but this period of his life was an important influence to his creative future – functioning as the families intermediary (since he was the one who spoke German) he got very familiar with the bureaucratic world of admin, uniforms and conformity.

After initially studying international economics at Tbilisi State University he made a pivot to the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, securing his masters degree in 2006.

So how did someone with no fashion background get his degree and comfortably float in as creative director of Balenciaga. A role he held for 10 years (that’s 100 years in fashion time).

He relocated to Paris the same year that he finished his masters, and with the support and collaboratorship of Walter Van Beirendonck (a designer who happened to also be the head of the fashion department at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts whilst Demna was studying.

His rise was honestly meteoric, and without taking away from his obvious drive and the hardships he did undertake – it’s an ascent you could only ever see from a Cis white man.

So he moved to Paris in 2006 with great support, by 2009 opened a showroom in Antwerp, and also joined Maison Margiela as senior womenswear designer, where he worked till 2013.

Yeah, senior designer at Margiela 3 years after graduating.

He launched Vetements in 2014 with his brother, which as we all know took the fashion world by storm. Then took over at Balenciaga (from Alexander Wang) in 2015.

He must have been rich right, to be able to just waltz out of a masters a get these kind of jobs?

Actually no, his mum was a housewife and his dad ran a car repair service. There’s not a load of detail on his family (which – fair enough) but his dad did become successful through importing goods when the family moved to Russia – so its probably safe to assume he had enough support to get a good start. Afterall not everyone can just get a place on a masters at a top fashion university.

There are some great interviews with Demna and his fellow classmates. He clearly always had his own vision, he sew by hand whilst others used the machine, he loved deconstruction, and he liked to experiment first – and figure out his justification for the work later.

Next – why is his work so important to know about?

Well, he is kind of the driving individual behind the whole Kardashian aesthetic – he even worked with Kanye on some of the initial Yeezy vibes that have had such a big influence on culture today. He played with athleisurewear, uniform and skin tight pieces in a new way, one that felt edgy, wearable and also somehow controversial. Also leaning into marketing led by virality, trends and celebrity culture – again in a way that could be controversial – especially when at the helm of a heritage couture brand like Balenciaga.

Talking of controversy…

He did face some controversies in his previous role – kids holding teddy bears wearing bondage gear might ring a bell. But in todays fashion media landscape honestly anything that cuts through the noise and makes you the brand of the moment is a win, right?

On a very personal note, so take it or leave it, I see Demna as a business man (he literally studied economics) and I see his designs as genius in the sense that people eat them up, they’re super marketable with just enough edge to make the wearers think they’re doing something interesting – clutching the fake Balenciaga Ikea blue bags they paid thousands of pounds for. Just enough edge to get young journalists writing articles about him. But I also come from a fashion history & criticism background. I see him just doing conceptual art as fashion. It’s been done. And it’s been done in ways that make more obviously meaningful critique of society too. Instead he plays at being a contemporary artist, ‘this skirt is a towel,  hehehe’ but creatively I’m not inspired – he’s ripping people off with something that isn’t actually that clever, and is actually very much a product – not art.

That’s probably his whole point and it’s an inception level commentary on consumption and everyday objects – which again, is genius, but personally isn’t disruptive enough for me.

Whats next as he moves into Gucci?

Gucci is another heritage brand, one with ties to leather goods, luxury travel and all things equestrian. They’re also known for vivid floral printed scarves and amazing handbags. ~The most iconic era at Gucci in my mind (which did include some awful racially insensitive and hugely questionable choices on the runway) was Alessandro Michelle’s retro, maximalist take full of sumptuous fabrics and rich colours that really brought the brand back into fashion consciousness.

We don’t know what Demna will do, but we can expect something harder, with more deconstruction and reconstruction, and a much more culturally relevant, trend and street style inspired approach. It’s a bit of a mad pairing, which is why the fashion industry has all eyes on Demna.