Demna’s status in the fashion industry was cemented when it was announced in October 2015 that he would be taking over as artistic director of Balenciaga. François-Henri Pinault, president and chief executive of Kering — parent company to the historic Parisian house — praised the designer as "a powerful emerging force in today's creative world." Demna’s first collection for the brand debuted at Paris Fashion Week in March 2016.
Alongside his creative directorship at Balenciaga, Demna — who studied at Antwerp’s Royal Academy of Fine Arts — has retained his role as head designer and spokesperson for Vetements, the buzzed-about collective of seven anonymous designers where he made his name after rising through the ranks at Maison Martin Margiela and Louis Vuitton. After just three seasons, Vetements was nominated for LVMH’s Young Fashion Designer Prize. The brand quickly found traction with consumers and the industry alike. It’s couture take on streetwear sensibilities stems, according to Demna, from the brand’s personal focus group: his friends.
In an interview with The Business of Fashion , Demna explained, “We all met and realised how frustrated we were. We started to lose a sense of fun in fashion. We feel it is inevitable and crucial to create contemporary clothing. We are having a dialogue with today.” The collections born out of their project are minimal without being flat, edgy without the gimmicks. “The most important ingredient for us is the reality, what our woman wears to feel good,” the collective told BoF.
On December 5, 2016, Demna was named International Ready-To-Wear Designer of the Year at The Fashion Awards.
In June 2017, it was announced that Demna himself would receive the CFDA’s International Award for his work at both Vetements and Balenciaga. In December 2018, he was named Accessories Designer of the Year at the Fashion Awards. In 2019, he won the Creative Spirit Award at the Creative Spirit Scholarship Benefit Gala from the Pratt Institute.
Later that year it was revealed that Vetements would be leaving Paris, where the brand was founded, for Zurich. Chief executive Guram Gvasalia told BoF that his brother Demna saw the city as a “clean slate.”
On September 16, 2019, it was announced that Demna had stepped down from Vetements.
In July 2021, Balenciaga launched its first couture collection since Cristóbal Balenciaga closed the atelier in 1968. Later that year in November, Demna was named International Women’s Designer of the Year at the CFDA Fashion Awards. He was also named a Leader of Change in Creativity by the British Fashion Council .
In May 2022, he was selected to the Time100 Most Influential People of 2022.
VITAL STATISTICS
The Revenge of Abstraction on Fashion’s Catwalks
Experimental silhouettes are making a comeback as young labels like Duran Lantink, Vautrait and Marie Adam-Leenaerdt reject the industry’s recent focus on commercial, heritage-inflected design.
Will Gucci’s Demna Strategy Work?
The financial markets and fashion fans on social media have rejected Kering’s bet on the zeitgeist-shaping Balenciaga designer to revive its ailing flagship. BoF’s Imran Amed has a different view.
The BoF Podcast | Demna Takes Gucci, Versace’s New Chapter Begins
As Demna is set to become artistic director of Gucci, and Donatella Versace passes the baton to Dario Vitale after nearly three decades at the creative helm of Versace, the fashion industry is bracing for much-needed creative transformation. BoF founder and editor-in-chief Imran Amed and editor-at-large Tim Blanks unpack what this means for the wider industry.
The BoF Podcast | Demna Takes Gucci, Versace’s New Chapter Begins
As Demna is set to become artistic director of Gucci, and Donatella Versace passes the baton to Dario Vitale after nearly three decades at the creative helm of Versace, the fashion industry is bracing for much-needed creative transformation. BoF founder and editor-in-chief Imran Amed and editor-at-large Tim Blanks unpack what this means for the wider industry.
Why Gucci Picked Demna
The era-defining Balenciaga designer will take the reins of Italy’s biggest luxury brand in a surprise shakeup of parent company Kering’s creative ranks. The French group is under pressure to turn around performance after profits tumbled 46 percent last year.
Demna’s Journey: From Barely There to Imperial Presence
The designer calls himself ‘a catastrophic thinker,’ but he’s given himself a break with his new collection for Balenciaga, writes Tim Blanks.
Couture’s Season of Monumentalism
A sense of sculptural rigidity and a stiff monumentalism was all over Paris Couture Week, writes Angelo Flaccavento.
Kim Kardashian Returns as Balenciaga Ambassador
The deal comes as the brand works to win back the support of trendsetting clients after a public relations meltdown.
Why Does Fashion Need Haute Couture?
On Monday at 10 a.m., a swarm of extremely well-heeled clients — dressed in Schiaparelli looks, holding Schiaparelli bags and wearing bright gold Schiaparelli jewellery, often the same pieces, from the same collections — proceeded en masse into the Petit Palais in Paris.
Why Does Fashion Need Haute Couture?
On Monday at 10 a.m., a swarm of extremely well-heeled clients — dressed in Schiaparelli looks, holding Schiaparelli bags and wearing bright gold Schiaparelli jewellery, often the same pieces, from the same collections — proceeded en masse into the Petit Palais in Paris.
Paris Couture Week: All or Nothing
Couture Week was a polarised affair, opposing restraint and excess, technique and showmanship, real clothes and wild storytelling, with little in between, writes Angelo Flaccavento.
Reputational Rehab for Balenciaga
In the wake of scandal, it’s back to the future for designer Demna as he employs legacy — both Cristóbal Balenciaga’s and his own — to find a way forward, writes Tim Blanks.
What is The BoF 500?
The people shaping the global fashion industry, curated by the editors of The Business of Fashion, based on nominations and on-the-ground intelligence from around the world.
