Demna Gvasalia: Duality in Synchrony
For the past few weeks, I have had friends ask me, “Why is your phone wallpaper the DHL logo?” I had to explain to them that DHL logo t-shirts are trending on Instagram, and that celebrities, bloggers and influencers around the world are wearing them. It did not make sense to them, so I explained that the fashion brand Vetements came up with an idea to call DHL and ask for the right to put its logo on a t-shirt, and now it is retailing at £185. As I would put it to my friends, the t-shirt ‘is like super high-end, ingenious stuff’. It baffled them even more. I can imagine the questions that popped up in their heads, ‘What is Vetements?’, or ‘Why DHL, a logistics company, as the face of a fashion item with a cult following?’, or ‘Why are people buying it?’ It is interesting, really.
To understand the conundrum that is the DHL t-shirt, we first have to understand Vetements. Vetements is a French high-end streetwear brand that has amassed a following of fashion bloggers, editors, and enthusiasts alike. Its — dare I say — trashy, cheap aesthetics is the face of today’s fashion. In a world of sequins and finely tailored silk dresses, Vetements emerged in the Parisian fashion scene with a sense of humor, something relatively rare in the industry, as embodied in a yellow t-shirt with the red DHL logo on it. The brand is known for its uncanny approach to high fashion; oversized hoodies, ’90s sportswear, and unflatteringly enormous shoulder pads, all made from the most synthetic of materials. So, why anti-fashion?
Enter Demna Gvasalia.
Vetements co-founder and head designer, Bulgarian-born designer and also Balenciaga creative director, Demna Gvasalia, has a simple answer, “At Vetements, it’s always very much: ‘It’s ugly, that’s why we like it.’”
Demna Gvasalia was born on March 25th 1981 in Tbilisi, Georgia. He obtained a degree in international economics at Tbilisi State University, but pursued his frowned-upon dream of becoming a fashion designer at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. Upon graduating, he moved to Paris and soon after started working at Maison Martin Margiela, not long after Margiela’s departure. Four years later he wound up at Louis Vuitton as a women’s ready-to-wear designer under Marc Jacobs. It was at Louis Vuitton that he and two friends from Margiela developed the idea for Vetements, out of frustration over the existing fashion. Soon enough, Gvasalia quit his job and invested his savings in the first Vetements collection. Fall 2014 was the first time Vetements showcased its collection, clothes racked up in a clothing rail in a tiny gallery in Le Marais. From its humble beginnings, Vetements has now risen to an esteemed, distinguished fashion house.
Gvasalia has always countered the conventional notion of what is considered fashionable. He had previously held shows at gay bars and Chinese restaurants, completely neglecting the kitsch. Up to this day, he still casts regular-looking people — people that do not fit the fashion model archetype — as his models. The brand’s name was chosen for its fancy, expensive sound. The word vetements, French for clothing, was initially used to masquerade its three founders, but stuck, thanks to its fancy sound. Gvasalia has admitted that the fact that many people cannot pronounce the word makes it even cooler. Vetements is not conceptual, he maintains. Vetements is about real-life dressing, not some pretentious idea about how people should be dressing. “If you go to somebody’s place and look at their wardrobe, there is no concept. It’s a flannel shirt. It’s an evening dress.” The brand’s nonchalant, forthright outlook has evoked a new cultural movement. 2016 was the year of Demna Gvasalia. People are paying €890 for his hoodies branded with ‘Antwerpen’ and the Flemish lion. He was doing collaborations with Dover Street Market and Champions. He showcased his first collection at Balenciaga, after Kering took notice and appointed him creative director in 2015 following Alexander Wang’s departure. The nomination was only the beginning of an affair between legacy and reality.
Gvasalia’s work at Balenciaga is nothing less than the extension of his extraordinary artistry. Like any other Parisian fashion house, Balenciaga does not share the same artistic ideology with Gvasalia. Cristobal Balenciaga strived for femininity and elegance, while Gvasalia likes to think that it is acceptable for women to wear BIC lighters as heels on their boots. There is however, one thing they share in common; being real. Cristobal Balenciaga was also known for his unusual choice of models. Gvasalia’s tribute to Balenciaga himself is channeling the love of reality that they both share. Not only does he carry on Cristobal Balenciaga’s legacy, he carries on what his predecessors were known for during their time at the house; the clean silhouettes of Alexander Wang and Nicholas Ghesquiere’s futuristic Parisian chic. In the process, Gvasalia revolutionized the idea of what Balenciaga is about while maintaining its poise. Today, Balenciaga is as much about puffy down jackets as much as it is about silk tunics and silver brooches. Gvasalia’s work reflects unconventional femininity and elegance undefined by the conformist idea of how a woman should dress. He redefined a legendary fashion house that is almost a century old in his own terms; with utter bluntness.
Like any other piece conceived in the hands of Demna Gvasalia; the DHL t-shirt sells because of two things — it is fresh, and it is real. It does not look like it comes with a set of instructions as to how you should wear it or how you should be acting when you wear it. It kills conventional dressing and tells you to rock it in the best way you can. It is about now, and customers want now. If there is one thing that Demna Gvasalia knows more than anyone in the fashion industry; it is that pretence is so last year.