Maverick Georgian fashion designer Demna bowed out after 10 years at Balenciaga on Wednesday with a star-studded Paris show featuring Kim Kardashian and veteran supermodel Naomi Campbell on the catwalk.
The final collection from the 44-year-old − who is switching to fellow Kering-owned brand Gucci − was watched by celebrities from Nicole Kidman to Katy Perry.
The austere Haute Couture Autumn/Winter 2025 collection featured women modelling garments in mostly black and white with exaggerated shoulders and padded hips, while men wore oversized jackets and trousers so long they gathered on the floor.
The use of male models in soft tailoring was a typically convention-breaking move from the showman, with Couture Week usually dedicated to handcrafted, one-of-a-kind dresses for female celebrities and VIPs.
Paris’ Couture Week is not the same as the French capital’s Fashion Week, which is dominated by ready-to-wear collections.
As Demna closed a chapter, Belgian designer Glenn Martens opened a new one as the former Diesel creative unveiled his first collection for Maison Margiela where he took the reins in January.
Succeeding British legend John Galliano at the label is seen as a difficult task, with the house’s last couture show in January 2024 considered a huge success by critics, but Martens appeared to have made an assured start.
Clearly inspired by the looks of founder Martin Margiela, Martens offered a first mixed-gender couture collection titled Artisanal which blended softness, opulence and minimalism, all with a strikingly eclectic mix of materials.
Like Margiela before him, Martens chose to obscure his models’ faces with masks made of plastic, metal or jewellery, which matched their outfits.
‘Forefront’
The luxury and fashion industry as a whole is suffering a downturn in sales due to weaker demand in China, fears about inflation and global instability.
Having multiplied sales at Balenciaga over his decade in charge, Demna’s next task of reviving the fortunes of sagging Gucci is seen as a huge challenge.
Shares in luxury conglomerate Kering, which owns both Balenciaga and Gucci, fell around 12% on the day his nomination was announced in March and have sunk further since.
Some analysts have questioned whether Demna’s recipe for success − which leans heavily on provocation and showmanship − can be replicated at the more classic Italian house, which generates most of Kering’s profits.
At Balenciaga, he helped drive the trend for casual streetwear on catwalks and made headlines with his $2,000 ‘Ikea’ bag and a $1,800 so-called “trash pouch”.
He was also behind a much-criticised 2023 advertising campaign that appeared to reference child abuse, leading to a rebuke from billionaire Kering CEO Francois-Henri Pinault, who watched Wednesday’s show with his wife Salma Hayek.
Fellow designer Franck Sorbier, who presented his own collection inspired by Inca culture on Wednesday, praised Demna’s impact on Balenciaga in an interview with AFP.
“It’s a brand that has managed to find its footing again, that forged its own path and succeeded in returning to the forefront of fashion − which was far from guaranteed, given that there were many attempts along the way, and not all of them worked,” Sorbier said backstage.
First Syrian
Elsewhere on Wednesday, Dutch duo Viktor & Rolf delivered a typically playful and sculptural spectacle, while Hong Kong’s Robert Wun continued to burnish his reputation as one of the relative newcomers on the circuit.
Wun drew inspiration from the world of cinema and theatre for his show at the Theatre du Chatelet, which opened with a model with dramatic bloodied lips wearing a thick white dress adorned with red handprint stains.
Today will see Dubai-based Rami Al Ali become the first Syrian designer to feature in the official calendar of Paris Couture Week.
The 53-year-old, who has dressed stars from Helen Mirren to Beyoncé, told AFP he was feeling “nervous, excited, tired, happy”.
