Demna Gvasalia, the King of fashion memes, gave us an unexpected twist this season for Balenciaga‘s Spring/Summer 19 collection. Gone are the street style vibes. This really came as a surprise, because with the tunnel show set developed in collaboration with digital artist John Rafman, the scene and stage, coupled with the soundtrack, suggested a technologically dystopic world. This was Gvasalia, throwing a curveball, showing us that he can be unpredictable after all. Instead, in its place, are tailored coats, with sharp shoulders, beautiful draping, in short, a modern collection, especially for Gvasalia’s standards, in comparison to what we are used to seeing from him, with logo-ed dresses, notwithstanding. Perhaps this was his vision of the post-fashion apocalypse, where a new type of power dressing and glam vibes, reign supreme. The only gripe i have about this collection, is the gold chain motif prints which looked strikingly similar to the Hermès Chaîne d’ancre, and the chequered black-and-white dress reminiscent of Louis Vuitton’s SS13 collection by Marc Jacobs.

Bags-wise, Gvasalia continues on with angular bags. Instead of a triangle bag and clutch, we see a trapezoid-shaped clutch and shoulder bag, along with several hard-cased evening bags that, honestly, reminded me of spectacle cases. Another standout from the SS19 collection, are the totes and clutch that, from afar, look like intricate origami folds, but up close, we realise that it’s actually fine strips of leather, criss-crossed and laced up all over the bags, sorta how it is at the back of corsets. Oh and if some of his runway looks are reminiscent of works by other designers, there’s also that bag, that looks exactly like the Chloé Nile. The only difference? is that “double B” balenciaga logo on it.

The Verdict: Love how Gvasalia changed things up, but not a fan of the copycat designs, even though it only made up a small part of his collection.

Images via Vogue Runway