It’s likely you’ve spotted the meme on your timeline that suggests you have just two ways of dressing, oscillating between swamping basketball shorts, ratty, oversized tees, and massive hoodies à la Adam Sandler, or mega-slaggy micro shorts, bra tops, and bum cheek-skimming mini dresses.

Well, it seems like Demna spends as much time doom scrolling as the rest of us, as he turned out a Balenciaga SS25 collection which epitomised the idea of business up front, party in the back, and traversed the line between the slouchy aesthetic he took over the world with and something a lot more seductive.

To a soundtrack of Britney Spears’ 2007 banger “Gimme More”, the first few models came out in a swathe of lingerie-inspired looks, like slinky silk teddies and bra and knicker sets, complete with suspender belts, garters, and stockings, some overlaid with louche V-neck sweaters and kinky trenches – because it’s what’s inside that counts.

Soon after, the Georgian designer cranked things up a notch with a series of prim, high-necked dresses in scarlet and black, but all was not as it seemed – as they made their way down the runway and passed by, the rear became visible, and there was nothing upstanding about it. All the way down the back were bondage-y, criss-crossing straps which barely concealed the wearer’s butt.

If the collection was business up front and party in the back, it was also a game of two halves, with part one being the night before, and the second part the morning after. Following the slinky lingerie looks came a bunch of ensembles which felt a lot more like the Balenciaga we know. Big, open trenches were worn over bare chests, trousers were slung around necks, and sweaters and hoodies were clutched under arms, as models walked down the long table that constituted a runway as if they were doing the walk of shame.

Under Demna’s direction, Balenciaga has never really been a “sexy” brand. It was the go-to for directional clothes that largely eschewed the male gaze and made a case for unisex dressing, but sex, whether we like it or not, is a big selling point even in the year of our lord 2024. In this economy, it seems like even one of the biggest brands in the world can’t afford to skirt around that bare-faced fact.