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Balenciaga pays tribute to Ukraine during Fashion week
When we think of a fashion show, we usually think of the glamour and elegance of haute couture. Let’s not forget that the fashion industry is very influential and has the power to carry out a message to millions of people everywhere. When everyone's focus is on the current situation in Ukraine, none of us can remain indifferent, fashion is taking a stand.
Ph. Museum at FIT
Balenciaga goes where fashion hasn’t dared go before and takes a stand for the Ukrainian refugees.
About The Show
Let’s experience the fashion show together. As you enter the room you notice the enormous snow globe on one side and a piece of fabric with the colours of the Ukrainian flag on all 525 seats. As you walk through the different rows looking for your seat, your mind starts to wander in different places and your excitement to take your place takes over you. You finally find your seat, take the fabric in your hand, shortly you notice it’s a T-shirt, but there’s also a letter from the creative director of Balenciaga himself, Demna Gvasalia. As you read through the letter you can’t help but to feel your emotions taking over you. The letter begins with “The war in Ukraine has triggered the pain of a past trauma I have carried in me since 1993, when the same thing happened in my country and I became a forever refugee,” and ends with “It’s a dedication to fearlessness, to resistance and to the victory of love and peace.” You start questioning everything and you can’t stand in peace in your seat. The show begins. The models are walking down the runway and in the background you hear the designer’s voice reciting a poem by the Ukrainian poet Oleksandr Oles which, he says translates roughly to “your sons will save you”. There is no translation to the poem, you listen to the Ukrainian language and you see how the models struggle to walk through the snow storm, you cannot help but to feel more uncomfortable than ever. You feel empathy.
Personal Take On The Show
It’s quite difficult hosting Fashion week during wartime and most designers are extremely cautious in such times. Other brands raised awareness on the situation in Ukraine through the social media channels and by adding a little detail to their show but Demna, made the show about Ukraine, which completely changed everything. Balenciaga was close to calling off the show, they said that “fashion week feels like some kind of an absurdity but to cancel the show means surrendering to the evil that has already hurt me so much for almost 30 years”. For him this was way beyond fashion, it was personal. Driven by the desire to tell the world his story he managed to cover the most important issues humanity is facing now - climate change, technology taking over and horrific news of war. When Demna was 12 years old he was amongst the 250,000 Georgian refugees forced to leave their homes during Georgia’s civil war. Knowing all the obstacles refugees have to deal with makes him want to not stay silent and take action to support them and give them some hope. According to some, fashion doesn’t have a place in politics but Balenciaga thinks otherwise, for the brand this is a call to action. “We, as a brand, have to do something … we cannot take weapons and go fight there, but we can use our voices,” Demna shared in an interview with Reuters.
The Meaning Behind It
The initial idea of the show was to cover the topic of the climate crisis and virtual reality. The show was supposed to comment on how future generations might perceive the concept of winter. It is about how in the future this might have to be digitally rendered in order to explain what snow is, the feeling of coldness, and the disappearance of winter as a season. The glass wall that separated the audience from the show was a metaphor on that imaginary future reality, creating an IRL livestream of sorts. Using a humanitarian crisis as an aesthetic proved to touch many in the audience and create a powerful show of empathy, something we rarely see on the runway.
At the end of the day, the designer managed to achieve what he does best: It made the audience think and ask questions about themselves as well as about the system. The audience was meant to feel uncomfortable while watching, as this meant realising what refugees are forced to deal with not just in Ukraine, but in Syria, Afghanistan, South Sudan and every other country that is living during war time.
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The Kinematic Dress and the World of 3D Printing
Fashion started when humans began wearing clothes, so the statement ‘the history of fashion is a history of people’ is a matter of fact. Even with the pandemic in the picture, the world of fashion is still going but with a slight twist: technology is here to stay and be a part of every aspect of our lives, even fashion.
Ph. Simon Lee, Unsplash
To keep up with the trends, 3D printing is becoming a widely used alternative to fabric in the fashion industry.
We can trace the origin of fashion design back to 1826! Fashion reflects the passage of time and if we look back we can learn a lot about history and culture solely based on the fashion trends. Zooming to the last two years, everyone could notice the rapid growth of technology and it is not a surprise latest innovations entered the industry.
Is 3d Printing Replacing The Sewing Process?
Ph. Tom Claes, Unsplash
The biggest threat in the world of fashion is fast fashion and all the negative aspects of it, from the terrible working conditions to the effects on the environment. Many people nowadays are more conscious about the way they approach fashion. Those new aspects are taken into account and are pushing designers to look for ways to accommodate their customers; this is where new innovations come in handy. It is becoming important to use 3D printing for sustainable and eco-friendly purposes, as well as turning the advance of technology to your advantage. 3D-printed garments can cut manufacturing waste, reduce carbon footprint, and promote circular economy. Fashion is embracing 3D printing due to its many advantages, and there are no limits to the possibilities. From clothing to footwear to accessories, 3D printing offers unlimited opportunities.
Kinematic Garments
One of the most well known kinematic garments is the kinematic dress of design-studio-cum-science-lab Nervous System, founded in 2007. Designers and co-founders of Nervous System studio, Jessica Rosenkrantz and Jesse Louis-Rosenberg, merge nature and technology in their line of Kinematics garments, including the Kinematics Dress, that was required by the Museum of Modern Art in New York for their permanent exhibition. Rosenkrantz and Louis-Rosenberg say that “the Kinematics Dress represents a new approach to manufacturing which tightly integrates design, simulation, and digital fabrication to create complex, customised products".
This future started at some point in the past, the studio was working at this already in 2013!
The Making Of The Dress
The dress is made up of 2,279 unique triangular panels and 3,316 hinges, to allow it to be printed as a single folded piece at the Shapeways factory in New York. All the pieces of the dress are rigid individually but, once combined, they function as a piece of continuous fabric that allows the dress to conform to the body and flow fluidly as it moves. The founders of Nervous System wanted to create a 3D printed garment that is both a gorgeous futuristic piece and comfortable for the wearer. At that time, most fashion designers experimenting with 3D printing made good looking garments for a magazine photoshoot, but if you were to wear it, the dress would feel like being covered in plastic. The designers' goal is to create a simple 3D printing method, so they developed an app to allow wearers to indicate their body shape and specify their desired length, patterning, silhouette, and other customizable design details. “We’re interested in computerising the entire manufacturing process” says Jessica, “we’re still in the very beginning, but we envision a future where people end up using their skill and creativity to create an end product that is completely accessible and affordable”.
Envision a future where you will be able to create and print your own unique garment in your bedroom with the click of a button. This is no longer a dream, it is a reality and people are doing it. It is exciting to observe the innovations, tactics, and designs that are created as this technology grows and it’s even more exciting to be a part of it.
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