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Demna Gvasalia put the climate crisis and Ukraine War in focus at Balenciaga’s Fall 2022 catwalk show, with the runway cast as a snow-covered tundra on the edge of Paris.
The designer drew on his own terrifying experience of fleeing Georgia as a 12-year-old refugee to shape the presentation, which took place in an empty aeroplane hangar. Artificial snow was blasted through the cavernous hub, turning it into a giant snow globe – a nod to the climate crisis. But the desolate setting took on even graver significance in face of the war in Ukraine. Models, clutching garbage bags seemingly filled with their dearest possessions, skittering their way down the run-way in heels and billowing overcoats, across the snow.
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Demna wrote that the war has ‘triggered the pain of a past trauma I have carried in me since 1993, when the same thing happened in my country and I became a forever refugee. Forever, because that’s something that stays with you. The fear, the desperation, the realization that no one wants you.’
Brilliant flashes of light popped overhead like bombs, accompanied by a pounding soundtrack – a sobering reminder of the reality beyond the glass.
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