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As the spring/summer 2020 couture shows kick off in Paris this week, Balenciaga has announced some very exciting news – the house will be returning to the haute couture schedule this coming July. That collection will mark the first couture show the brand has hosted in 52 years.
“Haute couture is the very foundation of this house, so it is my creative and visionary duty to bring couture back,” creative director Demna Gvasalia said in a statement about the news. “For me, couture is an unexplored mode of creative freedom and a platform for innovation. It not only offers another spectrum of possibilities in dressmaking, it also brings the modern vision of Balenciaga back to its sources of origin.”
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Balenciaga’s most recent couture collection was presented by the house’s founder, Cristóbal Balenciaga, in 1968, shortly before he closed the doors to his atelier.
Exceptional sales and a strong creative vision from Gvasalia have allowed the brand to invest in this new area of the business, Cédric Charbit, president and chief executive officer of Balenciaga, told WWD, explaining that a dedicated team would be put together. In addition to this, an atelier replicating the original salons at Balenciaga’s historical address of 10 Avenue George V are to be created.
Gvasalia has helmed Balenciaga since 2015 and recently stepped back from his own label Vetements, giving him a full-time focus on Balenciaga and this new adventure into the world of couture.
From: Harper’s BAZAAR UK
