Balenciaga Has Returned to Paris Fashion Week

Balenciaga has returned to the public eye with its Winter 2023 collection, presented on March 5 during Paris Fashion Week. It’s Balenciaga’s first time presenting a collection since its 2022 campaign scandal. You can livestream the runway show above.

The Balenciaga collection, which was announced with surprise messaging through fan pages, represents a divisive return that some are ready for — others, not so much.

Since the expansive social media backlash over its adidas collaboration and gifting campaign, Balenciaga has mostly kept quiet until now.

At first, Balenciaga attempted damage control by issuing several apologies from its team, CEO, and creative director, Demna but the social media firestorm only continued to grow.

The house eventually wiped its Instagram and stayed mum until it broke Instagram silence to promote the Balenciaga Garde-Robe collection, announce its National Children’s Alliance partnership, and tease the Fall/Winter 2023 runway show.

With the clock counting down to its presentation, you have to wonder what Balenciaga will look like moving forward. Is it possible that Demna might even bid farewell to Balenciaga after the FW23 show?

For Winter ’23, we suspect Balenciaga will hit restart big time.

Demna, for instance, revealed that the forthcoming collection will be “simple,” speaking to the codes instilled by house founder Cristobal Balenciaga.

To us, that sounds like Demna’s vision of Balenciaga Couture, which focuses more on archival Balenciaga silhouettes than provocative graphic interplay (though there may be a handmade T-shirt or two in the mix).

If sounds at all appealing, consider joining Balenciaga’s team as its VP of communications (especially if you have a background in crisis management).

Either way, it’s certainly safe to assume that this show will bereft of Balenciaga’s contentious gimmicks, like mud catwalks, $1,000-plus trash bags, and completely destroyed sneakers.

This is a make-or-break moment for Balenciaga, so it’s going to be taking this show seriously.