Demna Gvasalia: creative director of Balenciaga since 2015 and founder of the Brand Vetements.

THE BEGINNINGS: MARGIELA AND VUITTON

Demna Gvasalia was born in Sukhumi on 25 March 1981 from a Russian mother and a Georgian father. Due to the civil war in his country, he was forced to leave his homeland. After many movements, he arrived in Düsseldorf in 2000. Afterwards, he undertakes studies in economics and finance before abandoning them and attending the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. He fashion education began in 2009 at the  Martin Margiela Maison. He also crossed his path with the Maison Louis Vuitton and Marc Jacobs where he became a senior designer in 2012.

From Vetements to Balenciaga

In 2014 he left Louis Vuitton to create his own brand, Vetements. The brand was founded in Paris with his brother Guram Gvasalia and gathers the creativity of a group of anonymous designers. Gvasalia’s goal is to interpret streetwear in a couture key, drawing inspiration from the everyday life of his friends. In fact, Vetements is based on the idea of ​​”luxury streetwear”, with an ironic approach and a grunge aesthetic. Indeed, the collections are minimal but not trivial.

“The most important ingredient for us is reality, what our woman wears to feel good”

Gvasalia was called in 2015 to manage the French luxury brand Balenciaga, taking the place of Alexander Wang. François-Henri Pinault, president and CEO of Kering, the parent company of the historic Parisian house, praised the designer as “a powerful emerging force in today’s creative world”.

Balenciaga between Cristobal and Demna

Gvsalia’s first collection for the brand debuted at Paris Fashion Week in March 2016 with the autumn-winter 2016/2017 collection.

In order to make his debut great and unforgettable, Demna Gvasalia reinterprets the codes of monsieur Cristobal Balenciaga: puffy jackets, large and structured collars, mixes of different clothes and fabrics in a patchwork perspective.
The Balenciaga by Gvsalia collection restores the volumes, broad shoulders and drapery of the couturier, but giving a more modern and dynamic vision. 

The designer’s merit is his ability to transform commonly used items into objects of desire, in order to bring the world into fashion and fashion into the world. In fact, Demna Gvasalia’s philosophy is the result of a certain “theory of appropriation”, according to which objects used in consumer contexts or by different brands, are re-proposed with a new aesthetic. Examples of this is the Balenciaga Frakta, the Ikea bag, launched in 2017, and the trash bag of 2022. 

In March 2017,  Gvasalia himself received CFDA’s International Award for his work at both Vetements and Balenciaga. With the spring-summer 2018 collection, the designer imposes his personality more by revisiting the polka dots, the feather and the ruffles.
He rejects the idea of ​​classical beauty and carries a strong cultural component belonging to Russian culture.

In 2019, he interrupts his journey with the Vetements collective to devote himself exclusively to Balenciaga and the great return of haute couture after 53 years of absence.