Demna Addresses Balenciaga Controversy In a New, Tell-All Interview
“No one, myself included, raised a question of it being inappropriate. There were control processes in place, people involved—internal and external—but we just did not spot what was problematic.”
Back in November last year, Balenciaga came under fire for not one, but two controversial campaigns, both featuring questionable elements relating to child abuse.
Balenciaga and its creative director, Demna, apologized and made the decision to pull both campaigns and since then, the brand has announced a partnership with the National Children’s Association in order to prevent any further incidents. Following his initial apology, in which the designer took full responsibility, Demna has spoken out about the controversies in detail, in a recent interview with Vogue.
Speaking about the decision behind the Gift Shop campaign, which featured children alongside seemingly BDSM-inspired teddy bears, Demna clarified that “Kidswear was a part of the selection for the ‘gift shop,’ as well as the plush teddy bear bags, referencing punk and DIY culture, absolutely not BDSM, and they were worn by adults in the October 2022 show.” The designer went on to explain the process of choosing the photographer for the campaign, someone whose work Demna had previously admired. “The photographer’s work often included a multitude of toys placed around a room with kids in the middle of it,” he continued, noting that decision process as his “big mistake.”
“I didn’t realize how inappropriate it would be to put these objects [in the image] and still have the kid in the middle. It unfortunately was the wrong idea and a bad decision from me. We should not have featured kids in images that included objects that were not related and inappropriate to them. No one, myself included, raised a question of it being inappropriate. There were control processes in place, people involved—internal and external—but we just did not spot what was problematic. This was an error of judgment. I regret this a lot. We learned from this now and there are going to be closer and more attentive checks and validation steps applied before any image goes out. For this I want to say I am sorry; I sincerely apologize for what happened and to anyone who has been hurt by it,” Demna told the publication.
As well as Demna, Balenciaga’s president and CEO, Cédric Charbit, issued a statement to the publication which explained, “The artistic director oversees the creative. I take all the business decisions, have the final cut and responsibility. In between there are many steps, in terms of creation and validation, and several teams are involved in a collaborative way. All this was unintentional, but we collectively failed. I made the wrong judgment and take responsibility.”
In terms of the Spring 2023 campaign, which featured documents from a Supreme Court ruling regarding child pornography, Demna explained that “It was a set of negligent and unfortunate but not intentional coincidences,” adding that the team were told the documents were fake, leading to the lawsuit — which was later dropped.
Once the decisions had been made and the reactions began to surface, it was clear that something had gone horribly wrong. “I could feel that the whole Balenciaga family was put into trouble,” Demna explained. “I know that many employees of the house suffered from this situation. I know also this mistake was hurtful for some people who love the brand. This experience has forced me to reevaluate a lot of things in the way I, we, work, in the way we create and communicate images, the way we interact with our audiences, and the way we learn from our mistakes and move forward.”
In terms of what will actually change, Demna confirmed that “From my personal point of view, as creative director, I will have to question absolutely everything now. It really changes my way of working, which has previously been more instinctive; doing something that would be seen as maybe provocative just because I was thinking, Oh, that’s fun. This is part of my learning: I will have a more mature and serious approach to everything I release as an idea or an image. I have decided to go back to my roots in fashion as well as to the roots of Balenciaga, which is making quality clothes—not making image or buzz.”
