As someone who does not follow closely to the latest haute couture collections and high fashion, my sole contact with the world of fashion design happens through the odd YouTube algorithm that brought the video for Balenciaga’s 2020 summer campaign into my recommendations.
The summer campaign video opens in the form of a news broadcast. At first glance, everything seems to be normal until the news reporters mouth starts to move in an alien-like manner, nonsensical headlines are shown, and horrific imagery of whirlpools and strangely organized cars appeared. The show itself is just as tense and dystopian-like. The stage is organized in a similar fashion as the House Chamber at the Capital and the female models are dressed in clothing with broad shoulders to exude this sense of dominance as many female politicians. This seems to hint at the designer’s outlook of the current political climate. However, it is vague enough for the audience to formulate their own opinion.
The show also seems to criticize the current mainstream consumerist and popular culture with T-shirts with logos featuring the @ symbol (a common feat to social media) as well as models with bulging cheekbones and large, swollen lips to imply plastic surgery.
It was a really interesting experience for me to watch a fashion show on clothing, but not really focusing on the clothing.
