Luxury fashion house Balenciaga has apologized for ads showing children holding teddy bears in bondage clothing and others holding child sexual abuse law documents in support.
The brand has admitted “a number of serious mistakes for which Balenciaga takes responsibility” over the now-withdrawn campaigns, which have sparked furious criticism online and a $25m (£21m) lawsuit against the team behind one of the campaigns. they.
The Business of Fashion website rescinded its Global Award as it was presented to the brand’s creative director, Demna, at his annual gala dinner on Thursday, describing the images as “totally inconsistent with our values”. The site reported that its invitation to Balenciaga to attend and offer an explanation was declined.
On Monday, all eyes in the industry will be on the Fashion Awards at London’s Royal Albert Hall, where Demna, who does not use his last name, has been voted Designer of the Year. The awards are decided by a secret vote of 1,000 members around the world, and the voting was concluded before the scandal broke.
The backlash concerns two separate ad campaigns. One concerns the Garde Robe photo shoot, in which actresses Nicole Kidman and Isabelle Huppert posed in their Manhattan offices. Wide-eyed onlookers spotted documents on a desk under a £2,800 handbag from a US supreme court case questioning whether child sexual abuse imagery legislation restricts free speech rights.
Balenciaga said that all the elements of the shoot “were provided by third parties who confirmed in writing that these props were false office documents. They turned out to be real legal documents that probably came from the filming of a TV drama.”
In the background of another shot is a coffee table book of the work of artist Michaël Borremans, whose “Fire of the Sun” paintings include images of naked young children engaging in what gallery owner David Zwirner describes as “playful but mysterious acts with sinister connotations. .
The company is now suing Nicholas Des Jardins and North Six, the set’s designer and producers respectively, alleging “inexplicable acts and omissions” that were “malicious or, at the very least, extraordinarily reckless.”
The fashion house, which boasted annual sales of £15bn in 2021, said it bears “full responsibility for our lack of oversight” and “is closely reviewing our organization and collective ways of working”.
That row followed a backlash to his “Gift Shop” campaign: a series of children’s portraits by Italian photographer Gabriele Galimberti. It featured girls holding teddy bear-shaped bags in mesh vests and bondage harnesses, which first appeared at the brand’s Spring 2023 show. The juxtaposition of children with BDSM paraphernalia was heavily criticized and Balenciaga was quick to apologize for “a wrong choice”.
One of the teddy bear-shaped bags with bondage clothing from Balenciaga’s summer 2023 collection Photography: Balenciaga
Galimberti told Newsweek that he “had no right… [to] choose the products”, and Balenciaga has taken full responsibility for a decision in poor taste and the consequent infringement. Galimberti was not involved in the Garde Robe campaign, while neither Nicholas Des Jardins nor North Six worked on the Gift Shop images.
Brand ambassador Kim Kardashian, who walked in the July couture show in Paris, is “reassessing” her relationship with the house. “As a mother of four children, I have been shocked by the disturbing images,” she tweeted, though she stopped short of directly criticizing Demna or Balenciaga.
Demna has built an empire on cultural provocation, finding a huge audience for controversial fashion week stunts. This year, Balenciaga made headlines for a show held at the height of the Ukrainian refugee crisis in which the models battled a fake snowstorm by carrying garbage bags filled with belongings; for introducing an incognito Kanye West on her runway and then taking weeks to cut ties with the rapper after he wore a White Lives Matter sweatshirt; and for selling dirty, worn-out sneakers for £645 during a cost-of-living crisis.
The furor over his ads comes at a significant time for Balenciaga owners Kering, who also owns Gucci. After the sudden departure of Gucci designer Alessandro Michele a week ago, Kering will now decide whether to copy the approach of rival luxury goods group Hermes and prop up Italy’s most glitzy name as a trusted, top-tier luxury company, or throw the dice. Become a maverick designer with a radical point of view and reap the rewards of publicity. How Balenciaga weathers this storm may influence his decision.
Balenciaga said in his latest Instagram apology: “We strongly condemn child abuse; it was never our intention to include him in our narrative…Balenciaga reiterates his sincerest apologies for the offense we have caused”.
Source: news.google.com