Demna is marking the end of his Balenciaga era with a exhibition that doubles as a victory lap through ten years of boundary-pushing fashion.
“Balenciaga by Demna,” the new exhibition, is no stuffy museum recap; it plunges visitors into his irreverent world. It opens with a nod to his journey: a wall of show invitations funnels toward a framed 2007 rejection letter from Balenciaga. As a student in Antwerp, Demna applied for an internship and received a polite “no, thank you.” In the audio guide he admits the rebuff might have set him on the route from outsider to creative director.
Demna’s presence saturates the rooms. Overlapping audio tracks spill anecdotes behind 50 of the 101 pieces, turning the space into lively static. One moment he recalls turning a potato-chip bag into a leather clutch, the next he jokes that a $925 towel skirt could be a prank. The soundtrack mirrors a designer who toys with the border between parody and luxury.
Housed at Kering’s Rue de Sèvres headquarters, the installation reads more as archive than showroom. Clothes dangle from utilitarian racks, a single sneaker rotates on its pedestal like an old roadside sign, and a laptop endlessly loops the Simpsons x Balenciaga short. Instead of stock mannequins, two uncanny doubles of muse Eliza Douglas bookend the route: one wears the gray skirt suit from Demna’s 2016 debut, the other a scuba-satin gown from spring 2025.
Highlights come fast: the off-shoulder red swing puffer lifted from Cristóbal Balenciaga’s archives; trompe-l’œil tailoring; side-view-mirror clutches; and that controversial blue leather shopper nodding to IKEA’s Frakta bag. Nothing is too mundane to ascend to luxury. A look from the 2021 Gucci hacking collection slips in, hinting at Demna’s next post.
“Balenciaga by Demna” is a parting gift to the house he rebooted, brash, self-aware, and quick to laugh at itself. As Demna prepares to sign off with a final couture show on July 9, the exhibition stands as a concise snapshot of a decade that rewired fashion’s codes.
The show runs at Kering’s 40 Rue de Sèvres headquarters in Paris from June 26 through July 9, 2025. Entry is free with online reservation.
