It’s the end of a truly wild era at Balenciaga, as Demna bows out of his ten-year tenure as the house’s creative director with its 54th Haute Couture collection, and his last. After bursting onto the fashion scene as part of Vetements a few years earlier, his appointment at Balenciaga shocked the industry. How could the brains behind runway moments that saw models decked out in barely rehashed McDonald’s and DHL uniforms, massive, monstrous outerwear, and pithy viral oversized hoodies have the chops to take over such a storied maison? 

Love him or hate him, Demna has made his mark and then some. The first truly internet literate designer with access to a couture atelier and a knack for virality has transformed the way the world dresses, commodifying mass market products and packaging them up for the one per cent, while simultaneously allowing any kid in any country to raid their closest souvenir store with just a tiny bit of cash and come out looking like they just stepped off the Balenciaga catwalk.

He’s sparked conversation with each and every one of his shows, tackling issues spanning consumption, late-stage capitalism, and commerciality with witty, wink-and-a-nod collections that come to life via blockbuster spectacles. Across the last decade, he’s taken us inside the EU parliament, imagined what the climate apocalypse will look like, dragged us through a stinking mud pit, and even tackled his experiences of war as a young refugee fleeing Georgia. 

And now, his last. Stripped back of the theatrics that surround his ready-to-wear shows – or at least some of them – his fifth and final Haute Couture outing returned to the house’s original Avenue George V salon and brought his chapter at Balenciaga to a close today in Paris. Here’s everything you need to know. 

THE INVITE WAS A REEL OF GOLDEN THREAD

Where Demna’s ready-to-wear invites have been everything from smashed-up iPhones, to wallets complete with fake IDs, to Balenciaga-branded ‘protein bars’ – which were actually heavy-metal objets d’art that almost got confiscated by airport security – the designer likes to keep it chic when it comes to couture. Scouring the atelier for inspiration each season, across five collections he’s sent out gold-plated pattern weights, pin-cushion bracelets, and a tiny thimble. This time around, a gilded reel of thread sent alongside a massive yellow bouquet of carnations, chrysanthemums, and orchids,completed the set. 

ALL BALENCIAGA’S BIG NAME FANS STEPPED OUT

As always, you could hear the screams right from the Metro station exit before you’d even turned the corner onto Avenue George V as a massive crowd of teens skipped school to try to get a glimpse of their faves. Coming to see Demna’s final couture collection and say goodbye as the designer bowed out of Balenci was Cardi B, in a long lace gown that was split to the thigh – the rap legend whipped it to the side and flashed her bum at the paps before stepping inside the salon, but her crow was nowhere to be seen (not a euphemism). 

Fresh from a front row appearance at Chanel yesterday (July 8) was Lorde, who swapped her chic LBD for a barely-there silver see-through number. Twin Peaks icon Kyle MacLachlan and campaign stars Michelle Yeoh and Nicole Kidman, as well as Paloma Elsesser and Yseult, were deep in conversation by the time most people began climbing the marble steps and settling into their seats, with Lisa Rinna shuffling by in a massive blue puffer gown. Alexis Stone was also back, this time serving wild drag as Morticia Addams complete with ‘Thing’ attached to her shoulder, and ‘astronauts’ Katy Perry and Lauren Sánchez were also in attendance… So yeah, that was that.

…AND SOME STEPPED OUT ON THE RUNWAY

Demna’s had his muses since the beginning, with striking models including Eliza Douglas and Minttu Vesala a constant fixture on pretty much every Balenciaga runway, but his ultimate in recent years has come to be Kim Kardashian. The reality TV star turned entrepreneur stepped out at the Met Gala in 2021 in black body-stocking that covered her from head to toe – rendering the most famous woman in the world completely anonymous and causing some to question if it really was her in there or actually just a body double – with Demna similarly modestly dressed in a black hoodie, jeans, and mask behind her. 

Then in 2022, she got her big Balenciaga runway debut as she joined Dua Lipa and more on the couture catwalk. With multiple campaigns for the house under her belt, she returned today to mark the end of an era, landing on the runway in a cream wiggle dress and extravagant fur coat and a diamond necklace once owned by Elizabeth Taylor and expensive enough to warrant even more security guards than usual hawk-eyeing her every move. Demna’s always been captivated by celebrity culture, enlisting actual paparazzi photographers to shoot campaigns and staging a stellar show is Los Angeles in 2023, where he riffed on Tinseltown’s archetypes and sent models stomping down a closed-off street in a bougie part of town in trashy Juicy Couture tracksuits and red carpet-ready gowns alike. 

As always, Kim played the part of the Hollywood starlet, her hair pin-curled to perfection, as divisive as the likes of Taylor and Marilyn Monroe ever were – you can’t go down in history if you’re not prepared to ruffle a few feathers, which is maybe why Demna and Kim get on so well. 

ALL THE GREATEST HITS WERE IN THERE

For his final collection, Demna didn’t really venture into new waters – he’s got to save some ideas for his next gig at Gucci, obviously – and instead looked back at his greatest hits. All of his iconic archetypes were present, as he unpacked the sartorial codes of the bourgeoisie and repurposed them as only he can. Alongside Kim K’s look, there were lots more gowns worthy of glittering movie premieres you’ll likely see on the red carpet next season, while ultimate classics like the oversized bomber were streamlined in new fabrications to make them lighter than ever. 

Couture went corporate – or corporate went couture – as Demna sent models wearing blown-up Wall Street-ready trenches and carrying gleaming golden mirrored briefcases through the salon, and there was a bunch of slouchy suits that made the boys wearing them look like they’d raided their dads wardrobe – the antithesis of couture, all had been cut to ‘one-size fits all’ measurements taken from a bodybuilder, which gave them their oversized appearance on the show’s more lean wearers. Said bodybuilder also walked the show, with his own suit cut to perfection, but having models with larger bodies didn’t extend to the womenswear which was a shame when former ready-to-wear runway models Paloma and Yseult were both sat front row looking cunty as hell. Demna has been getting good at including different sized bodies in his shows and campaigns when most other houses are turning their backs on them, though, so hopefully it’s something he’ll take with him to Gucci.

There were more runway surprises from Isabelle Huppert, who sauntered dramatically through the space in a chic little suit with sculpted hips, and Triangle of Sadness actress Sunnyi Melles, as well as Naomi Campbell, who demonstrated her iconic walk in a glittering beaded column dress. Rounding things off was a new addition in the form of three debutantes that looked like they could have stepped straight out of a (Balenciaga collaborator) Lauren Greenfield documentary. Decked out in pastel-coloured gowns crafted from the lightest technical organza available, the pieces could have been ripped from a provincial junior prom photo, and it kind of felt like Demna was looking to a baby-faced new gen of couture customers, with the models all having a kind of awkward, sweetly naive air to them. 

Rounding things off was one thing Demna couldn’t depart the house without having done – the designer used his last ever show to send the first completely couture sneaker down the catwalk, which is sure to piss the purist ‘Cristóbal Balenciaga would be turning in his grave!’ Balenci fans right off one final time.

YOU WILL NEVER BELIEVE THIS!

With the first half of the soundtrack made up of his entire team at the house reading out their own names, eventually Sade’s “No Ordinary Love” kicked in, and as it did, Demna actually came out to take a bow for the first time ever! After suiting up at his AW25 womenswear show, the designer was back in his big hoodie, camo pants, and cap to say his final Balenci goodbye, making his way through all of the rooms of the salon to wave at and hug various people. As he did his climactic lap, he was pretty unsurprisingly given a standing ovation by all guests, with lots of attendees doing what fashion people rarely do and showing signs of emotion. Demna, we’ll miss you and your wild imagination – Gucci is lucky to have you <3