5 things to know about Balenciaga's Couture collection The Haute Couture of 2021 according to Demna Gvasalia

Balenciaga's couture show just staged in Paris was the 50th of the brand – a sign of continuity with the work of founder Cristobàl Balenciaga who had closed his Atelier on Avenue Georges V in 1968. In front of an exceptional audience, which also included Anna Wintour, Bella Hadid and Kanye West, they paraded the 63 looks of a collection that aimed to reinvent for the modern era the concept of Haute Couture both opening it to gender fluidity, and proposing on the catwalk high iterations of those garments loved by Demna that we had already been used to seeing on the ready-to-wear catwalk of the brand. 

There were many details to note in this collection, which brought Balenciaga back on the Couture calendar after more than fifty years of flashy absence. Here are the 5 things to know about Balenciaga's new Couture show.

1. Couture is gender-fluid

The show was important for Demna as, as he himself said, the designer had begun to have doubts about his career. At first, creating looks for Haute Couture made him rediscover the joy he could find in his work, in assembling an international team (Massaro Paris for footwear, the Swiss company Abraham for fabrics, the London-based Huntsman & Sons for tailoring) and in studying the brand's heritage in depth. But above all Haute Couture taught him that fashion must return to its less commercial roots and more related to pure craftsmanship and creativity: «The more we have digital shows, the more we need physical shows for couture. The more we mass-produce, the more we need one-of-a-kind products», Demna explained to WWD.