Balenciaga SS22: The Best Of

We’re back with another ‘best of’ list for our latest editorial piece, featuring one of the most in-form labels on the luxury circuit right now. Demna Gvasalia’s latest collection for Balenciaga doubles down on the most unique and most celebrated hallmarks of his time at the famous Maison, referencing facets of culturally impactful subcultures from yesteryear and presenting us with his transformative vision of the future. It’s arguably his most ‘Balenciaga’ collection to date and with this in mind, we’ve handpicked 5 styles that best illustrate that presiding sentiment.

Balenciaga Black Worn Out Bomber Jacket

Creative director Demna Gvasalia continues his tradition of experimenting with shape, structure and fabrication in his designs with his latest menswear showcase, this featured Worn Out Bomber Jacket being a heightened reimagination of a classic style. The essence of a contemporary leather jacket remains with a certain sleekness in the overall design and chic finishes like the faux shearling collar. But it’s defining features like the hugely exaggerated volume and Demna’s earnest commitment to utilising sustainable materials throughout that make this piece so unmistakably ‘Balenciaga’.

Balenciaga Black Multi Patch Explorer Backpack

One thing that can never be said about a Demna collection is that it fails to make any kind of meaningful statement. Everything from fabrication to graphics has a part to play in the overarching messages that he’s attempting to communicate through his fashion, messages that often have deep-rooted cultural, political and even environmental implications. This Multi Patch Explorer Backpack is a veritable smorgasbord of his most entrenched political stances and a powerful testament to his ‘activism first’ approach to fashion design. The anarchical collage of badges ranges from anti-racism to pro-veganism in rhetoric and is interspersed with Balenciaga logos of various shapes and sizes.

Balenciaga Blue Raw Cut Oversized Sleeveless Hoodie

There’s a certain sense of unrestrained casualness in Demna’s Balenciaga collections that you just don’t get with any other designer label on the market right now. Our featured Raw Cut Oversized Sleeveless Hoodie maintains that suggestion of effortless nonchalance that encourages the wearer to ‘just throw it on and don’t overthink it’, promoting a kind of liberating rejection of conventional styling norms. This is helped in no small part by the oversized shape and hugely relaxed fit, making it more akin to a poncho or cape in terms of the way it hangs on the body. The intentionally creased fabric also plays into Balenciaga’s famously blasé aesthetic.

Balenciaga Beige Unity Bomber Jacket

The Unity Bomber Jacket has a similar modus operandi to the worn out bomber we mentioned earlier in the piece: take a classic style and make it Balenciaga. Well, you don’t get much more classic than the tried and tested bomber jacket and you don’t get much more Balenciaga than tent-like garment shapes, experimental fabrication and unisex fits, incidentally just a handful of characteristics that help define this latest outerwear statement piece. In terms of styling, it’s really just a matter of finding a way to match the jacket’s inherent ambiguity with the rest of your outfit, experimenting with a mixture of jeans, track pants, trainers and boots to achieve that fluid and non-conformist aesthetic.

Balenciaga Black Crocs Slide Sandals

Balenciaga’s evolving relationship with Crocs is looking less like a fleeting love affair and more like a committed marriage with every season that passes. These featured Crocs Slide Sandals are the latest product of their ongoing collaboration, adding to an impressive portfolio that already includes boots, platforms and even high heels! There’s something about the meme-worthy ‘ugliness’ of Crocs shoes that marries perfectly with Balenciaga’s sci-fi futurism and Demna’s penchant for social commentary. With a sleek, aerodynamic design, it’s actually quite difficult to see where Balenciaga’s influence begins and Crocs’ ends, suggesting that the union between the two, which seemed so unlikely at first, now makes perfect sense in retrospect.