Who is Demna Gvasalia? Business of Fashion REVOKES award for Balenciaga's creative director
OXFORDSHIRE, ENGLAND: The luxury brand Balenciaga is in for some more bumps for their highly controversial campaign which involved children holding teddy bears in BDSM-inspired gear. From online backlash to celebrities slamming the brand, things got serious when Business of Fashion revoked an award that was being given to the fashion house's creative director Demna Gvasalia. The brand apologized for the campaign saying, "We take full accountability for our lack of oversight and control of the documents in the background and we could have done things differently."
The 41-year-old creative director was supposed to be one of the main events along with the brand. However, conditions have been severe for the brand. BoF took to its Instagram and wrote, "Earlier this year, we invited Balenciaga's creative director Demna to BoF VOICES to receive our Global VOICES Award for 2022. At BoF, we hold the safety of children in the highest regard."
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Who is Demna Gvasalia?
Demna Gvasalia, frequently referred to by his first name, is a Georgian fashion designer and currently, the creative director of Balenciaga and the co-founder of Vetements, who was awarded the Global VOICES Award. Demna is known for dressing celebs like Kanye West, with whom he shares a close friendship. He was also the creative designer for Kanye’s Donda event in 2021. However, BoF now thinks that the man affiliated with Balenciaga is not worthy of it especially due to three scandals involving children's images. The honor given to Demna was previously given to the late designer Virgil Abloh.
Balenciaga faces backlash from BoF
The campaign had several disturbing elements like children surrounded with BDSM gears, a SCOTUS ruling on child porn, and more. BoF continued, "And like many, we have been seeking the truth about how children appeared with BDSM-inspired products in Balenciaga's recent campaign images, which are wholly inconsistent with our values. As a result, we will not be presenting Demna with the Global VOICES Award this year. Nonetheless, we asked the leadership at Balenciaga to come to VOICES to take responsibility for releasing these images and offer an explanation. They declined our invitation to speak at this time. BoF remains open to having this important conversation."
Balenciaga, on the other hand, issued an official apology shared know their Instagram stories saying, "We strongly condemn child abuse; it was never our intent to include it in our narrative. The two separate ad campaigns in questions reflect a series of grievous errors for which Balenciaga takes responsibility. The first campaign, the gift collection campaign, featured children with plush bear bags dressed in what some have labelled BDMS-inspired outfits. Our plush bear bags and the gift collection should not have been featured with children. This was a wrong choice by Balenciaga, combined with our failure in assessing and validating images. The responsibility for this lies with Balenciaga alone."
