Review of Balenciaga Spring 2022 Ad Campaign by Balenciaga Creative Director Demna Gvasalia with Artist Claudia Mate
by Aidel Townsley
Chaotic red carpet meets 90’s graphics in artist Claudia Mate’s virtual rendering for Balenciaga‘s Summer 22 campaign. The computerized replication of a scarlet hallway captures a retro-futuristic collection, reminiscent of 90’s cyberpunk with a smattering of strikingly vibrant pieces.
While the collection itself is represented by facsimile versions of the pieces, the 3D avatars accurately capture the emotive choices made by models Tommy Blue, Eugenie Bondurant, Marie Agnès Diene, Abdou Diop, Zinedine El Ouazzani, Gwen Lu, Aki Nummela, Anania Orgeas, Hansi Schmidt, Minttu Vesala, and Inti Wang.
This CGI red carpet event allows the models distinctive qualities without high definition detail. Poses made for the roaring photographers in Claudia’s video campaign are stilted yet still organic. This combination of high-tech art with purposefully low pixelation and rate frames causes a deep sense that the collection belongs to a middling reality, confusing and frighteningly revolutionary. This is heightened by the numerous sunglasses worn in this non-day or night computerized reality, recalling the outfits and consciousness from the late 90’s classic: The Matrix.
Balenciaga strikes a balance between streetwear and runway fashion that the modern celebrity embodies in this virtual red carpet. Oversized outerwear, in the form of blazers, leather jackets, and puffers, creates genderless silhouettes, which are extended to the two fluidlike and luxurious dresses featured. This in-between identity, both with gender expression and digital interpretations of reality, is the only decisive status of the collection.
Balenciaga Creative Director | Demna Gvasalia
Artist | Claudia Mate
Models | Tommy Blue, Eugenie Bondurant, Marie-Agnès Diene, Abdou Diop, Zinedine El Ouazzani, Gwen Lu, Aki Nummela, Anania Orgeas, Hansi Schmidt, Minttu Vesala, and Inti Wang