Balenciaga: who is the creator of the controversial destroyed sneakers that cost US $ 1,850

Torn, dirty, but for sale for $1,850.

The luxury brand Balenciaga launched a worn version of its Paris High Top sneakers, which it has baptized as the Full Destroyed or completely destroyed.

According to the firm’s portal, the shoe is a limited edition and is available in black and white. The model is also engraved with the coveted company name.

The new creation, however, has been criticized on social networks and has caused the creation of many memes.

But who is behind the new shoe?

A refugee designer

They bear the signature of designer Demna Gvasalia, creative director of Balenciaga since 2015.

Gvasalia was born in Georgia in 1981 when the country was under Soviet rule. But in 1993, when he was 12 years old, he became a refugee, because his family left the country because of a civil war.

He later returned to Georgia to study international economics at Tbilisi State University in the country’s capital.

After graduation he attended the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, Belgium, where he earned his master’s degree in fashion design in 2006.

He now lives with her husband, French musician and composer Loïck Gomez, and her two dogs in a town near Zurich, Switzerland. She is fluent in six languages.

The refugee experience shaped her personality and is reflected in her collections. At the most recent Paris Fashion Week, held in March this year, Gvasalia paid tribute to refugees.

As the models walked, she recited a poem in Ukrainian, something she confessed was difficult on a personal level.

The crisis in Ukraine, according to the Georgian, has revived an old trauma.

“I have become a refugee forever,” she said in a statement issued before the parade.

“Forever, because that’s something that stays with us. The fear, the desperation, the realization that no one loves us,” she added.

From illustrious unknown to fashion star

When he was appointed by the luxury conglomerate Kering, owner of Balenciaga and other brands such as Saint Laurent and Gucci, Gvasalia was an unknown.

His foray into the industry came as the founder of Vetements, the anarchic streetwear brand he launched with his brother Guram in 2014.

But with his subversive style and his activism, the Georgian has already cemented his name as a star in the elite universe of celebrity stylists.

He has also made Balenciaga the fastest growing brand in the luxury market.

In 2019, his revenue exceeded US$1 billion and he was considered one of the top three companies in The Lyst Index, a quarterly ranking of the most popular fashion brands and products.

To do this, Gvasalia has a loyal audience: millennials, who represent 65% of Balenciaga’s customers.

“I think this decade probably represented the most chaotic time in fashion,” Gvasalia said of the changes in the industry in an interview with Britain’s Financial Times newspaper in 2019.

“It’s been pretty scary. But times have changed. The way we communicate with our customers today is a whole different story,” he added.

Speak to a younger generation

And, at least for now, Gvasalia seems to know how to communicate with his audience.

No wonder he describes himself as “an Instagram voyeur.” The designer is known for creating “sticky” visual content that proliferates online.

“The younger generation is very informed and very politicized. And I think it’s time for activism and people to stand up,” he told the Financial Times in the same interview.

That’s what happened with his hybrid shoe, the Triple S, which combines three different shoe soles and is Balenciaga’s best-seller.

In the opinion of Katy Lubin, VP of Communications at Lyst, Gvasalia is “the grandmaster of fashion memes” and says she sees “a huge increase in pageviews for Balenciaga’s more experimental pieces as they go viral.” .

Despite this, Gvasalia told the British newspaper that he does not care so much about likes, but rather listens to his “intuition”.

“In the end, I try to communicate through clothes. I don’t tweet, thank God, or do anything like that. I make clothes. For me, Instagram likes are as irrelevant as making a product and then doing research.” what do people like?

It now remains to be seen whether Gvasalia’s intuition is sharp: will the “destroyed” sneaker be a bestseller?

If we get carried away by their latest releases, most likely yes.