Day 5,783 at Paris Fashion Week and the finish line is within spitting distance as the mammoth AW25 womenswear comes to a climax in just a couple more days. Tempers are frayed, sleep is a scarce commodity, underwear options are rapidly diminishing, and French onion soup courses through veins where blood used to be – but give us some good fashions and you’ll soon have us pumped up again. Thankfully, on Sunday night (March 9) Demna did just that, sending his latest Balenciaga collection out into the world at the grand Cour du Dôme des Invalides that’s recently become its home. Here’s everything you need to know. 

THE INVITE WAS A PERFUME SAMPLE

Demna was said to be readying himself to drop his first ever fragrance for Balenciaga back in 2023, but it’s been two years since then and still nada. Seems like it might finally be on its way, though, as the Georgian designer sent a velvety red rose and a little sample tube of scent out as his invite this season. If you thought a Balenciaga perfume would be kind of weird and offbeat, maybe smelling like the specially created, earthy mud-like notes that were blasted out at his SS23 show, you’d be wrong. I am no trained nose, but on first spray it’s a deep, intense rose with just a tiny hint of muskiness. Find me on Fragrantica for more in-depth reviews x

IS THAT… ADELE?

The massive crowd that had assembled outside the showspace went wild as British singer Adele stepped out of a car in a long black velvet gown, but suspicions were raised when they got a closer look and she was carrying a couple of her many Grammy Awards under her arm – our humble Tottenham queen would never! Instead, it was Alexis Stone back to her old tricks, adding a turn as Adele to a roster that now includes Jennifer Coolidge, Jocelyn Wildenstein, and Mrs Doubtfire. Joining Faux-dele (yes I am pleased with that one) was Bodies Bodies Bodies legend Rachel Sennott, Romeo Beckham, Jessica Alba and Tyra Banks.

ENTER THE MAZE

The showspace was shrouded in darkness which it took a while for eyes to adjust to, revealing itself to be a bit of a maze when they finally did. If it wasn’t for the rows of chairs lining the venue, you would have been forgiven for thinking you’d maybe accidentally taken a wrong turn and ended up backstage – long black curtains created narrow corridors that got attendees up close and personal with each other. As the show started, you could hear the footsteps of the models approaching from all angles and the vibrations of their movements in the floor, but it took a really long time for them to actually appear – it gave the whole thing a slightly unsettling, anticipatory feel, for which Demna is well known.

THE CORPORATE RAT RACE

The first few looks out of the gate felt quintessentially Demna, harking back to the time he took us all into an EU conference room circa SS20. His cast of models looked like they were dashing to the office, decked out in slick suiting that incorporated nipped blazers, rigid pencil skirts, and sleek overcoats, the proportions of which had been dialled down from the designer’s typically blown-up, hulking proportions. It’s a trend we’ve seen quite a bit this season, with Stella McCartney and Duran Lantink also sending their collections out in office settings. A conspiracy to make corporate life look so sexy we all want to abandon working from home and thus invigorate the global economy? Who knows. But if someone wanted to kit me out in new-season Balenciaga to compel me to commute every day, I’m afraid to say it might just work.

THE BALENCIAGA ARCHETYPES

The rest of the collection was a run-through of some of Demna’s greatest hits, and showed just how influential the brand has been in changing the way we all dress. As the corporate-core looks petered out, they made way for slinky evening wear, like a silky gown covered in polka-dots and slit to the hip, matched with a dangerous 10-denier tight and savage pointy stiletto, and bright, tight gowns crafted from heavy jersey material.

Behind those girlies came the footie lads in their slouchy double-B-branded tracksuits, and a new collaboration with Puma that featured sportswear plastered with Balenciaga Olympics medals, as well as muscly guys in the kind of deeply slashed vests that pepper the dancefloors of regional nightclubs the world over.

With references to underground club culture also in the mix, the show was closed by a model wearing a massive puffer ballgown, which heavily referenced the codes Cristobal laid out for his house, but translated them into something a lot more modern. Of the show’s intimate set-up, Demna explained he wanted to get back to the core of why we are all here in Paris, which is to focus on the clothes. It’s something a lot of designers are interrogating right now: what is fashion for?

THE RUMOURS ARE RUMOURING

If you’re finding it hard to keep up with rumours surrounding who’s going where in fashion right now, you’re not alone. It’s hard to imagine there has ever been such a monumental switcharound of creative directors, and Demna himself has not been exempt from this chatter – he’s been at Balenciaga for nine years now, is he ready for a change? Despite turning out a collection that felt a bit like a round-up of his greatest hits, it felt more like a reset, as Demna, decked out in a sleek suit instead of his usual slouchy looks, grows up and gets more serious about tapping into what his fans really love.

“Fashion has become this giant rumour mill, which is fun, because people like a guessing game,” he told the scrum post-show. “But I think in that fog of rumpus, what is important? Sometimes I read more about rumours than what we really want from fashion now. Does it make any sense? I’m staying with fashion forever. Maybe what I want to do now is just make great clothes for my customer, for someone who likes what I do and relates to that aesthetic, and who understands clothes through wearing them, not speculating about them.”

The shrunken proportions and overall cleaner feel of the collection pointed to a bit of a reset happening at the house, as Demna assesses his wins and loses and moves to laser focus on what really works. Whether he stays at Balenciaga for ten more years or his comments backstage were staged to throw us off the scent, he’s had a great reign at the house and we’re excited for his next era, whatever that might look like.