Demna’s final collection for Balenciaga is not a spectacle of reinvention, but a consolidation — an archive of codes sharpened and distilled into form. For the house’s 54th couture outing, held in Paris, the departing artistic director didn’t seek to shock. Instead, he chose to reaffirm. This is the language Demna built over the past decade: the confrontational silhouette, the architectural coat, the off-kilter glamour of a structured slipdress paired with fur and hard diamonds. It is couture as statement, not costume.

The show opened with silhouettes lifted from “La Bourgeoisie,” pulled apart and rebuilt: tulip lapels, rigid tailoring, shoulders pushed to sculptural extremes. Materials ranged from houndstooth lifted from a 1967 pattern, to new constructions in scuba satin and Japanese super organza. Naomi Campbell walked in sequins, Cardi B in layered satin. Kim Kardashian’s absence was solved mid-show by her appearance on the runway — jewelry flashing, presence unmistakable.

There was no soundtrack, only recited names — a departure from runway convention, a choice that lent weight to every look. The absence of noise clarified Demna’s precision. It wasn’t soft. It was controlled.

The final acts twisted the aesthetic once more — a fan made by Duvelleroy unfurled mid-walk, referencing an archival piece from 1895. Gowns in pale pinks and yellows closed the show, like a flicker of romance pushed through the house’s austere frame.

To accompany the collection, Gianluca Migliarotti directed a Savoir-Faire documentary, offering rare insight into the labor behind the looks. The film traced the hands of Neapolitan tailors, the Balenciaga atelier’s premières, and artisans at Maison Lesage, showing the hours behind each corset, fan, and sculptural dress. No sentimentality — just craft.

What Balenciaga showed was not an ending, but an assertion: that design, at its sharpest, is a memory that can’t be erased. Demna leaves behind a framework of ideas — often polarizing, always distinct. The next chapter begins under Pierpaolo Piccioli. But for a house that has always moved between severity and elegance, Demna’s decade ensured it never lost its edge.

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