The designer at the center of the Balenciaga advertising scandal has broken his silence.
In a Friday post on Demna’s Instagram account, which has 373,000 followers, the Balenciaga creative director wrote: “I want to personally apologize for the wrong artistic choice of the concept for the gift campaign with the kids and I take my responsibility. It was inappropriate for children to promote items that have nothing to do with them.”
The Georgian designer, who is prone to provocation and subversion in his designs, shows and communications, was referring to Balenciaga’s Christmas campaign featuring children posing next to teddy bear-shaped bags dressed in bondage clothing.
Separately on Friday, Balenciaga Chairman and CEO Cédric Charbit reiterated his “most sincere apologies for the offense we have caused.”
He outlined major changes to his “content organization,” vowed to go on a “listening tour” with child protection groups, and set aside “significant fund for grants to organizations so we can help make a difference in child protection.” ”
The company also took a radical turn by blaming production company North Six Inc. and set designer Nicolas des Jardins.
He said he has decided “not to pursue the litigation” but offered no further details.
North Six declined to comment Friday afternoon. Des Jardins’ agent at Streeters did not respond to requests from the media. Both parties are supported by the social networks of Trey Laird, Stefan Beckham, Martha Hunt, Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin and other creatives and industry professionals.
Gabriele Galimberti, the documentary photographer who shot the campaign with the children holding the controversial teddy bears, said he had done so unknowingly, having never worked in fashion. He was also wrongly criticized for another controversial Balenciaga campaign, in which he had not been involved. Galimberti said on Friday: “They are finally taking full responsibility like they should have done in the first place instead of putting the blame on me and the other company.”
In another indication of the pushback Balenciaga is facing with the campaign, the British Fashion Council confirmed on Friday that, after speaking with Balenciaga, “the brand has decided not to attend” the Fashion Awards in London on Monday.
Demna was originally up for Designer of the Year, alongside colleagues like Miuccia Prada and Pierpaolo Piccioli for Valentino. The BFC confirmed that her name is no longer on the shortlist for the award, which is voted for by more than 1,000 international industry figures.
Balenciaga’s ads have sparked outrage on social media, with some consumers gleefully destroying Balenciaga products, others urging a boycott of the brand and calling for the designer’s removal.
Last week, Kim Kardashian said she was “reevaluating” her relationship with the brand, saying she was “shocked by the disturbing images.”
“I need to learn from this, listen and get involved with child protection organizations to find out how I can contribute and help on this terrible issue,” Demna’s post read. “As much as I would sometimes like to provoke thought through my work, I would NEVER intend to do so with an issue as terrible as child abuse which I condemn. Period.
“I apologize to anyone offended by the images and Balenciaga has ensured that appropriate steps will be taken not only to prevent similar mistakes in the future, but also to take responsibility for protecting child welfare in every way possible.”
Comments are disabled on the post, the only one on Demna’s feed, and it’s garnered just over 25,000 likes to date.
The designer did not mention a second campaign that has also brought another storm of criticism and sparked a lawsuit against the producers involved.
That fashion campaign for the spring 2023 collection featured actresses Nicole Kidman and Isabelle Huppert in a business setting. In a photo of a bag, there is a page at the bottom of the Supreme Court ruling “United States v. Williams” of 2008, which confirms the promotion of child pornography as illegal and not protected by freedom of expression.
Kidman is facing heavy criticism for her silence on the ads, which she promoted to her 8.7 million Instagram followers.
Balenciaga has issued several statements noting that he condemns child abuse and that he never intended for it to “be included in our narrative.”
“The two separate ad campaigns in question reflect a series of serious errors for which Balenciaga takes responsibility.”
A statement detailed: “The first campaign, the Gift Collection campaign, featured children with teddy bear bags dressed in what some have labeled as BDSM-inspired outfits… Our teddy bear bags and Gift Collection They should not have been brought with children. This was a wrong choice on Balenciaga’s part, combined with our failure to test and validate images. The responsibility for this rests solely with Balenciaga.
“The second separate campaign for Spring 2023, which was meant to replicate a business office setting, featured a photo with a page in the background from a Supreme Court ruling ‘United States v. Williams’ 2008, which confirms the promotion of child pornography as illegal and not protected by freedom of expression. All items included in this shooting were provided by third parties who confirmed in writing that these props were fake office documents. They turned out to be actual legal documents that likely came from filming a TV drama. The inclusion of these unapproved documents was the result of gross negligence for which Balenciaga has filed a complaint. We take full responsibility for our lack of monitoring and control of background documents and could have done things differently.”
Balenciaga was said to be seeking $25 million in damages through his legal action against North Six and Des Jardins.
North Six logistically managed the drive in the office environment, but was not involved in the giveaway drive with the questionable teddy bears, as reported.
Fashion casting director Piergiorgio Del Moro, who has more than half a million followers on Instagram, said in a post Friday that he supported North Six and des Jardins.
Its publication preceded Charbit’s announcement of the end of the litigation.
“It is troubling to see a fashion house knowingly deflect blame onto the contracted production company to avoid responsibility for their own creative decisions,” he wrote. “Customers are on set and are responsible for all approvals and, most importantly, they have the final say before all images are released to the public.
“The production doesn’t create the vision, but rather works to serve the clients and bring their vision to life, or contribute to their own,” he continues. “Everyone in the fashion industry knows how precisely brands create, test, define and safeguard their image, including micromanaging all the media associated with said images. I stand with the community to ensure that blaming production companies for the consequences and problems associated with vision and image does not become the norm and I hope that Balenciaga sees to it that the North Six name is properly cleared.”
Charbit said Balenciaga will “learn from our mistakes as an organization” and institute a series of new controls.
“Our current content validation process has failed, and we recognize the need to improve it,” Charbit said in the statement. “Internally, we are appointing with immediate effect an image council responsible for evaluating the nature of our content from concept to final assets, including legal, sustainability and diversity expertise. On the external side, we have appointed a best-in-class agency to test and evaluate our content organization.”
In addition, he said “we have reorganized our image department to ensure full alignment with our corporate guidelines.”
The new steps seem to go against the wide creative space and creative freedom normally given to creative directors.
Demna has undoubtedly caused amazement and anger with fashion shows resembling scenes from the Ukrainian refugee crisis and the muddy trenches of war, and accessories including a plush leather garbage bag and worn sneakers that seemed to mock of the poor.
On Friday, Charbit said, “we want to learn, help and contribute to keep children safe” and outlined more remedial controls.
“We are starting training on responsible communication in our teams,” he wrote. “Together with my team, we will be going on a ‘listening tour’ to engage with advocacy groups that aim to protect children.
“I want to personally reiterate my most sincere apologies for the offense caused and assume my responsibility,” he added. “At Balenciaga, we stand together for the safety of children and do not tolerate any kind of violence or hate speech.”
As to whether Balenciaga’s public apology will be enough to undo the damage that has been done to the brand, Mark McKenna, a leading intellectual property scholar at UCLA Law School, said: “It’s hard for me to imagine that those marketing materials were released without anyone from Balenciaga participating and logging out. That would be very surprising.”
— With contributions from Samantha Conti, London and Rosemary Feitelberg, New York
Source: news.google.com