BALENCIAGA'S SHOWS ARE MOVING TOWARD PERFORMANCE ART. HOW WILL THAT SHAPE ITS RUNWAY SPACES?
Photo Courtesy of Balenciaga
11 oct 2022, for frame
Location
ZAC Paris Nord 2, 93420 Villepinte, France
Design
Sub
Art
Brand
Smell Design
Sissel Tolaas
Music
BFRND
A simulated mud catastrophe with multisensory elements, Balenciaga’s Summer 2023 runway was the stage for fashion and performance art alike.
Key features
Design studio Sub and Spanish artist Santiago Sierra developed the set of Balenciaga’s latest show, which was a metaphor for digging toward the truth and being down to Earth. The runway took that pledge seriously, presenting a muddy terrain which models trudged through. A strong aroma of petrichor – the wet earth after rain – scented the space and drove the immersive experience. It was mixed by Norwegian artist and smell researcher Sissel Tolaas. The 275 cu m of mud was provided by Florentaise, a French family-owned company specialized in developing environmentally friendly innovative products and soil-mix components.
Frame's take
The runway space for Summer 2023 continues the series of Balenciaga’s sets for which the brand looks to natural forces. The AW20 runway presented an apocalyptic rainstorm, there was snow via a machine-made winter during Winter 2022, and now, Summer 2023 raised a mud hell. This direction is meant to embody the Zeitgeist, many of the shows being deeper, symbolic commentaries on political and social realities. Staging these technically complicated sets is possible only at professional exhibition centres, which gives them a cinematograph touch.
Creative director Demna stated after this show that he will no longer explain the collections by verbalizing his designs, instead focusing on fashion as visual art. The key word here is ‘art’. Adapting the work of controversial artists like Sierra moves the brand to the next level of sophisticated spatial narration. The act of the models destroying the runway pieces while journeying the catwalk simultaneously transgresses from the traditional fashion show, moving toward performance art. It's a shift that may very well protect Balenciaga's unique identity within the fashion system.