This is Demna Gvasalia, creative director of the brand and who remained silent until this Friday. What did he say through his social networks and what will be his future.
Balenciaga creative director Demna Gvasalia apologized on Friday after the luxury fashion brand ran controversial ads showing children holding teddy bears dressed in what appeared to be bondage clothing, saying it was “inappropriate for children will promote objects that had nothing to do with them”.
KEY FACTS
Although Balenciaga released a statement last week about the scandal, Gvasalia, who has headed the brand since 2015,remained silent until this Friday.
In his Instagram statement, Gvasalia said that althoughlikes to “provoke a thought through my work”, but “I would NEVER intend to do that with such a horrible subject of child abuse that I condemn.”
Gvasalia said she needs to “learn from this” and “engage with child protection organizations” to help children who have been abused.
Gvasalia promised that Balenciaga will take steps to ensure that something like this never happens again, and also “to take responsibility for protecting children’s welfare in whatever way we can.”
CRUCIAL APPOINTMENT
“I want to personally apologize for the incorrect artistic choice of the concept forthe gift drive with the children and I take full responsibilityGvasalia wrote.
KEY BACKGROUND
Last week, Balenciaga ran a campaign featuring children with teddy bears dressed in harnesses and other BDSM-esque attire. Followers were quick to point out how inappropriate the images seemed. As anger grew, Internet sleuths noticed that in a separate Balenciaga campaign for a bag, a piece of paper on a desk appeared to have the text of a 2008 Supreme Court decision, United States v. Williams, dealing with child pornography. Balenciaga removed the photos and issued two separate statements on Tuesday.
The brand said its”bags of teddy bears should not have appeared with children in this campaign”. As for the other campaign, the company apologized for “showing disturbing documents” and took legal action Friday against the production company that arranged the filming. Kim Kardashian, who is one of the most visible faces of the brand, said Monday that she was “shocked by the disturbing images” and that she is reconsidering her relationship with the company.
TANGENT
Demna was very close to Kardashian’s ex-husband, Kanye West, who goes by Ye. Balenciaga was one of the first brands to cut ties with West, who had recently walked in one of his fashion shows when he began defending anti-Semitic rhetoric on social media in October.
Before West was banned from Twitter again, for the first time since new owner Elon Musk took over,for sharing an image of a swastika inside a star of david, wrote that he supports Gvasalia and Balenciaga through this scandal.
“I support Balenciaga and denounce all witch hunts and cancel cancel culture. Jesus is the king. Ending trafficking doesn’t start or end with a fashion campaign for crying out loud,” West said, according to Page Six. And he added. “ Let’s never turn our back on Demna and the Balenciaga family for life. Please heal yourself.” West also shared alleged text messages Gvasalia sent him, asking West to get her fans to “stop the hate on Denma.”