We thought Prada was the devil’s favorite brand, but Balenciaga might have a special place saved for them in hell.
The luxurious Spanish brand had a fast rise to the top but came tumbling down quicker than Alexander Wang’s career after the sexual assault allegations against him in 2019 according to an nbcnews article.
Balenciaga’s new campaign called “Balenciaga Gift Shop,” on Nov. 16 featured children holding teddy bears dressed in bondage, dominance, submission and sadomasochism (BDSM) toys that lead to the current downfall of the brand.
Demna Gvasalia, creative director of Balenciaga, took over the brand in 2015 after Wang, and has pushed the boundaries of reality using fashion, high profile models and celebrities. This recent “push” however, has sent Gvasalia and Balenciaga off a cliff into a dumpster fire.
November’s campaign was shot by Gabriele Galimberti, an Italian photographer whose previous work included children and their toys. His first time shooting a fashion campaign might as well be his last.
The photographs of the campaign had children standing in Balenciaga outfits in settings that looked like they were run through by a group of satanists.
The photos included props of Balenciaga’s popular caution tape but had spelled “BAAL,” an ancient Middle Eastern deity that practiced child sacrifice according to Britannica. Behind the tape hung a drawing of the devil on the wall and lastly the distressed teddy bear in leather and a fishnet top on the bottom left hand corner.
One photograph included a toddler standing on a bed holding the BDSM bear with large eyes, which is not even the worst part for the brand.
French actress Isabelle Huppert was photographed for Balenciaga’s 2023 Garde-Robe advertising campaign which contained a stack of books that included a novel from Belgian painter Michaël Borremans, whose work frequently features children.
Borremans’s most popular yet controversial work was shown at the David Zwirner gallery in Hong Kong.
The collection was named “Fire from the Sun” where he painted castrated children covered in blood.
In the same photoshoot with Huppert, Supreme Court documents were also included. The documents were from a 2008 case, United States vs. Williams, where a father admitted to an undercover secret service agent that he had sexually explicit images of his underage daughter.
Those documents were used as props in the campaign according to an article by Newsweek.
Since then, Balenciaga has erased all content on their Instagram and has released a statement regarding the incident.
“We strongly condemn child abuse: it was never our intent to include it in our narrative.” Balenciaga stated.
Celebrities like Kim Kardashian, Julia Fox and Kanye West have all spoken out against the fashion house and have been contemplating their relationship with Balenciaga.
Kardashian, being a mother of four and having a close relationship with Gvasalia and Balenciaga, shared how she felt seeing the campaign.
“…disgusted and outraged by the recent Balenciaga campaigns…As for my future with Balenciaga, I am currently re-evaluating my relationship with the brand,” Kardashian stated in a Twitter post.
Until then and further notice Balenciaga is canceled.
