Balenciaga Designer Opens Up About Campaign Scandal

Demna Gvasalia, a designer at heart who is currently the creative director of the luxury fashion brand Balenciaga opened up about the infamous ad campaign scandal in 2022. The ads were a part of the brand’s Gift Collection, which featured teddy bear plushies covered in BDSM-like layers. The main issue? The ad featured children holding plushies and the accessories that the brand was trying to sell. Soon, Balenciaga turned off comment sections and put up apologies, but it seems like the brand has not entirely been able to recover from the backlash. There were big impacts on Balenciaga’s overall image and business, as well as how they portrayed themselves in the media. Creative director Demna opened up about the issue with Vogue magazine in Paris in an interview. This is Demna’s very first interview since the controversy took over the front pages of every major news publication.

Demna’s Apology

Starting off, the designer apologized for the ad campaigns that featured children with props such as lawsuit papers for child pornography as well as teddy bears dressed in risque outfits on handbags. According to him, the handbags were symbols of the modern DIY and punk culture and not objects of sexual fantasies. 

“This was an error of judgment. I regret this a lot. We learned from this now and there are going to be closer and more attentive checks and validation steps applied before any image goes out. For this I want to say I am sorry; I sincerely apologize for what happened and to anyone who has been hurt by it.”

In the interview, he also claimed that the prints of the Supreme Court ruling paper about child pornography and that of a book by Michaël Borremans are completely coincidental. Michaël Borremans is known for his controversial paintings of children and his ties to convicted child abusers. The designer dodges the responsibility of the shoot and the campaign, implying that neither he nor Balenciaga knew anything regarding the themes of the campaign.

“What I can definitely say is that it was not intentional by me or Balenciaga. If it was intentional by someone else, I don’t know.”

Balenciaga’s legacy has been tainted with accusations of supporting pedophilia and promoting child abuse. Demna himself is very well known for being a provocative artist, but this time around, he denied having any part in the controversial shoot. Many accused him of trying to put Balenciaga in the headlines by stirring up controversy because it is something he is famous for. However, the designer maintained his stance, saying:

“The provocative aspect of my work often got misinterpreted and misunderstood, and I no longer feel like applying it to my designs. I often used some kind of wit in my design language, and it has often been deemed provocative. For me, it was more about having fun and not taking fashion too seriously,” he told Vogue. “Despite what many people may have suspected, the issue with the campaigns was absolutely not in any way part of my provocative design language — never, ever would I have an idea to mess around with such an awful and horrible thing as child abuse.

Since the controversy, Balenciaga has made many changes to how things like ad campaigns function. According to Demna, they have enforced checks and validations that rigorously check anything and everything before it goes up to the eyes of the public. He mentioned that there would be a new image board and a more responsible attitude regarding the brand’s future products and campaigns.