Demna On Tom. Gucci Pre-Fall 2026

December 4, 2025 | Design & Culture by Ed

Looking at Demna‘s sophomore collection for Gucci – the pre-fall 2026 lookbook – I can’t help but wonder: will this brand ever give Tom Ford’s archives and identity a rest? From the images shot in Ford-era, runway-style dimmed lighting to the general sultriness emanating from the clothes and their cosplay-like styling, this feels like yet another studio-designed collection made simply to fill the stores. Knowing Demna’s capacity for concept and irony, venturing into Tom Ford territory this straightforwardly feels a tad too early – and far too unchallenging.

Don’t get me wrong: the collection does have strong moments, especially in the menswear. The 2000s footballer aesthetic is back and fully alive in the V-neck T-shirts (my personal nightmare, but fine – we live in a @gettyimagesfanclub-lensed world). The tackiest-looking monogram-merch bags are everywhere (and somehow feel cool), and I love the men’s ballet flats paired with very basic denim and a trench-coat-buttoned-to-the-top. There’s definitely some wit here. Metrosexuality is in.

But the womenswear? I find it as shallow as Demna’s September debut. It has neither the sass nor the sauce. If this is truly what the new Gucci is, I’m seriously concerned.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Miserable. Balenciaga AW25

March 11, 2025 | Design & Culture by Ed

“Give us nothing” energy was delivered by Demna at Balenciaga. Unlike at Prada and The Row, here, the effect was absolutely depressing. I get that the Parisian crowds might find the radical mediocrity of purposely badly-cut men’s suits and shirts amusing, but for a person living in Poland, this is very triggering to see. It’s literally what you get on the streets during Women’s Day when all the guys buy their girls that one little rose, once in a year. Demna even had this infamous, sad-macho “archetype” in the show. Another nightmare: the ridiculously bad duvet jackets that you can get at any East-European bazaar. They were here, too, in different unflattering lengths. Don’t get me started with the tight polo shirts and the Puma collab. I get the irony and I’ve always enjoyed Demna’s mind – and sense of humor. But something is certainly off about his latest runway collections – and this one screamed “crisis”.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Recession-Chic. Balenciaga Pre-Fall 2025

December 3, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

For Balenciaga‘s pre-fall 2025 collection, Demna isn’t only the creative director – but also the photographer. The newly-released lookbook is basically a roll of unretouched, fitting photos, taken with an iPhone. Not that Balenciaga didn’t have a budget for Juergen Teller or Mark Borthwick, but this is a signal: recession is here, and it’s hitting the fashion industry. Far-fetched destination shows also don’t feel right at this very moment.

This savvy mode appeared to be the right medium for Demna. This collection is the essence of his Balenciaga, stripped from flashy moments or big statements. The only gloss you can find is in the merch-like t-shirts depicting the brand’s ambassadors, from Isabelle Huppert to Nicole Kidman. Just brilliant and truly witty. I also loved the straightforwardness of the collaboration with Scholl: the spike-heeled sandal mule is both fashion-forward and orthopedic. The collection was primarily about Demna’s love for dystopian deconstruction: take the jersey underpants sliced open to be worn as micro-skirts and swathed mega-scarves made from cut-up coats and trenches. These looks – and the cocoon-ish, Cristobal-ish echo behind them – are very recession-chic.

If you’re not into recession yet (ha-ha), here are some of my favorite Balenciaga pieces you can get.

ED’s SELECTION:

Balenciaga Le City Small Textured-leather Tote

Balenciaga Technoclog Rubber Mules

Balenciaga Asymmetric Draped Cape-effect Pleated Crepe Dress

Balenciaga Poplin-trimmed Leather Pumps

Balenciaga Oversized Asymmetric Cotton-twill Trench Coat

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Haute Consumption. Balenciaga Resort 2025

May 31, 2024 | Design & Culture by Ed

Balenciaga went to Shanghai for resort 2025, and while looking at the show unfold on Museum of Art Pudong’s riverside pier, I couldn’t help but wonder: are the far-fetched destination cruise shows as exciting as they used to be a decade ago? The heavy rain that started pouring on the show’s evening was the actual star of the event. It brought a sense of grit and urgency to the rather very schematic Demna collection. It mostly consisted of his Balenciaga classics: all-black, all-goth apparel, a bit of bourgeoisie chic (seen through a “Shanghai noir” lens) and Cristobal Balenciaga couture riffs in the larger-than-life eveningwear. There were extreme platform “metalhead” boots, worn with overlong coats that would have dragged well along the floor if not for the extreme creepers. “I made this collection on a very instinctive level of what I like, what excites me, what creates desire in me,” he said. “Where I’m bringing Balenciaga with this show is finding a new type of balance between all these different facets of my aesthetic and style.” But isn’t that already a routine at the brand?

At least the final series of experimental semi-couture and couture dresses had something to say. They orbited around the idea of materialism and (over)consumption – ironic, noting that China has over fifty Balenciaga stores in total. A cocoon column-like dress was pieced together from travel bags, another was cut from gift packaging gold foil, and a third was made from Tyvek paper, a subtle nod to one of China’s inventions. The closing gown was constructed from a collection of pink plastic bags over a decade old, the strips cut by hand and pierced with wires to create feathers that resembled a piece from the house’s archive. While Demna’s ready-to-wear collections lag lately, I so can’t wait for his haute couture show later in the summer.

Just five Balenciaga pieces I’m obsessed with at the moment…

ED’s DISPATCH:

Balenciaga Le Cagole Boot Crinkled-leather Shoulder Bag

Balenciaga Sunday Suede Clogs

Balenciaga Oversized Wool Blazer

Balenciaga Asymmetric Draped Cape-effect Pleated Crepe Dress

Balenciaga Wrap Injection Plastic Cat-Eye Sunglasses

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Everybody Comes To Hollywood. Balenciaga Pre-Fall 2024

December 3, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

Balenciaga‘s first-ever fashion show in Los Angeles had it all: the Kardashian-Calabasas flagship style, some Hitchcockian drama with a Lynchian twist, the taste of an Erewhon smoothie and even the H of the Hollywood sign as the backdrop. Demna called LA “my favorite city in the world,” saying, “all my cultural evolution, when I was a teenager growing up in this kind of post-Soviet vacuum, it really came from here, through movies, music – I mean, everything that I kind of absorbed, that later on started to kind of become my fashion references.” There was certainly something surreal about Balenciaga’s gothy black clad guests turning up en masse on a well manicured stretch of Windsor Boulevard in Hancock Park. The collection skewed SoCal, starting with the exercise clothes, gym bags, and souped-up sneakers of the first few looks. The circa Y2K velour jumpsuits and giant high-heeled shearling boots that came next will be familiar to readers of US Magazine, which would’ve been another way the young Demna got his celebrity content.

Back in those pre-social media days, the paparazzi lurked outside hipster coffee-shops. Circa 2023, it’s Erewhon smoothies that the stars are clutching. Timed to yesterday’s event, Balenciaga collaborated with the LA grocer on a juice. Made in part with activated charcoal powder, it’s as black as the stretchy turtleneck and tight jeans worn in the show by Brigitte Nielsen. “I don’t know what’s in it,” Demna said. “I just wanted it to be black.” The designer (officially) rejected the idea that he approached the collection – or LA itself – with irony, but there’s something comically perverse about a paper grocery bag made in leather. The sensational evening clothes were as Hollywood as the rest of the show, but it was easier to read earnestness in their elegance and drama. There was a respectful nod to Cristobal Balenciaga in the grand volumes of a white wedding gown whose funnel neck extended to just below the model’s eyes. Two other dresses conjured post-coital bed sheets tied at the bust, if bed sheets came in patent leather. These were pure Demna.