Here’s Why Some People Are Upset With The Clothing Brand Balenciaga
Here’s Why Some People Are Upset With The Clothing Brand Balenciaga
If you’ve been seeing some stuff about Balenciaga but not entirely sure about what’s going on, this is for you.
In their latest gift collection ad campaign, Balenciaga had toddlers model with teddy bears wrapped in bondage and empty champagne glasses.
After swift outrage, Balenciaga apologized for the photoshoot.
The gift collection campaign pictures were then taken down and replaced with their
Adidas x Balenciaga Spring 23' campaign pictures.
Well...within the Adidas x Balenciaga Spring 23' campaign pictures, people discovered child pornography court case documents, along with a stack of books featuring pedophilia, blood rituals, occultism, and cannibalism.
Pertaining to the court cases, two of them can be uncovered in the pictures being Ashcroft v Free Speech Coalition and United States v Williams both dealing with child pornography.
The top book, Michaël Borremans: Fire From the Sun by Michael Bracewell, features blood-covered toddlers and the bottom book, Matthew Barney: The Cremaster Cycle, being just as disturbing.
While this sounds like some big conspiracy, it’s hard to believe that any of this is by accident. Sets for big fashion brands aren’t just thrown together. Every detail matters.
Since then, Balenciaga has apologized again, this time for the court case documents featured in the Adidas x Balenciaga campaign.
At the time of posting this, they've also put out a statement regarding about both instances.
The problem that some people have with Balenciaga's statements is that it doesn't take into account their runway show which features people carrying baby dolls on their chest with blood splattered baby items within their bags.
As a brand, how can you say, "we strongly condemn child abuse" yet feature blood splattered baby items within your runway shows and work closely with people such as Lotta Volkova, who's Instagram account (now private) features child abuse.
One would think that an issue like child exploitation would warrant a bigger reaction from celebrities, much like how they reacted to George Floyd, Ukraine, etc. but we've seen the exact opposite.
As these details came to light, more and more pressure has been put on celebrities, specifically Kim Kardashian (as she’s one of the faces of Balenciaga) to be vocal and speak out against the brand.
Kim Kardashian has since made a statement, however she has stated she will continue to work with the brand if they accept responsibility and will fix things moving forward (as they claim they will).
Other than that, we're not seeing many celebrities at all speaking out against the brand.
Taking a deep dive into the people behind Balenciaga such as Demna Gvasalia and those who have influenced the brand in the past like Lotta Volkova, it's hard to believe that this is all some conspiracy or by accident.
I'm working on part two of this Balenciaga deep dive now. If you're interested in looking at all the sources for this graphic, the full version of this post and want to be notified when Part Two is finished, be sure to comment “ send it “ and you’ll get the link to subscribe.
Big shout out to my friend Jessica,
, for her contributions to this conversation as well.