A young Georgian designer has been named as the new creative director of Balenciaga, a famous fashion house based in Paris.
Today’s announcement by Balenciaga chief executive and president Isabelle Guichot revealed Georgia’s Demna Gvasalia would replace acclaimed American designer Alexander Wang in the position.
Gvasalia is regarded as a prominent up-and-coming talent who was currently behind the underground Paris fashion collective Vetements.
The iconic label’s move to appoint Gvasalia to the leading position comes after confirmation in August that Balenciaga would be parting ways with Wang – with the latter set to concentrate on his own label.
In the announcement Guichot praised Gvasalia as "a perfect fit” for the fashion house with his innovative thinking to design and presentation.
We really wanted somebody that has a vision, and someone capable of reshuffling the cards […] we needed somebody that respects the legacy of the brand but also injects a totally new take on Balenciaga,” she noted while speaking about the young designer.
The announcement included a comment from François-Henri Pinault, president and CEO of Kering company, who own Balenciaga.
I am delighted to welcome Demna Gvasalia, a powerful emerging force in today's creative world, as artistic director of Balenciaga,” Pinault said while praising the Georgian’s approach to his work.
Gvasalia has emerged for the position from his underground fashion collective Vetements – translated simply as ‘clothes’ – which was called "hands-down [the] coolest thing going in Paris fashion” by authoritative fashion magazine Vogue.
Collections by Vetements, an underground fashion collective founded by Gvasalia, have been noted for their approach to reworking existing garments. Photo by Daniel Jackson/Vogue magazine.
Vetements involved a mysterious group of eight designers and was founded by Gvasalia 2014 along with his brother Guram, the only other named collaborator of the project.
Collections by Vetements have been recognised not only for their creative approach – reworking already existing clothing for fresh appearance – but also for the selection of venues for their shows in Paris, with the French capital’s Chinese restaurant Le Président among the locations where the collective won praise from the audience and critics.
The innovative collective "sent ripples of new energy through the Paris fashion scene with classic, democratic clothing reimagined with new proportions and imbued with a raw-edged street sensibility,” stated businessoffashion.com in its review of their work.
In recent years Gvasalia has also worked for luxury fashion brands and with famous designers; he was part of the famous Martin Margiela’s fashion house where he directed women’s collections through 2009-2012 before he joined Louis Vuitton in 2012.
Models backstage of the Spring/Summer 2016 collection show of Vetements. Photo by Chloé Le Drezen.
Born in Georgia, Gvasalia studied international economics at Tbilisi State University before graduating with a Master’s degree from Antwerp Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Belgium, a school that has spawned famous artists like Margiela.
Gvasalia’s first collection for Balenciaga is scheduled to be presented during the 2016 Paris Fashion Week in March next year.