Turning trash into fashion: Is the empty chip bag the new It bag?
Demna Gvasalia once again lives up to his name as an out-of-the-box thinker in the world of high fashion: the creative director of Balenciaga converts an empty packet of potato chips into a clutch and sets the Internet guessing.
Adidas tracksuit, baseball cap, chip bag - this is the outfit you'll find me in on a Wednesday night when I sneak out of my apartment, crumpled after a long day at the home office, to grab a snack for Netflix at the Coop around the corner. Demna Gvasalia, on the other hand, sat down just so in the front row of the Graduate Fashion Show at Antwerp's Royal Academy of Fine Arts.
The online magazine "Enfnts Terribles" documented in a viral Tiktok video how the head designer of Balenciaga and co-founder of Vetements carried what appeared to be an empty packet of potato chips throughout the day. And no, he didn't carry it around like a piece of trash, but like a chic clutch. Brand? Lay's. Flavor? Salted.
In the comments, people are puzzling over what the 41-year-old's bizarre accessory might be all about. Is Demna taking the luxury fashion for a ride? Is he mocking his own clientele? Or has he simply not found a bucket throughout the day? We can only speculate about his intention, but a look at his previous work makes it clear: the chip bag was a conscious fashion decision - which is not even surprising. This is not the first time the 41-year-old has made fashion out of waste.
Tape and garbage bags are high fashion
As a prankster of the high-fashion guard, Demna conjures up viral WTF moments like no other. Partly with ironic absurdities such as a 9000-franc winter coat consisting of seven jackets layered on top of each other (a critique of overconsumption, according to Vogue), but most of all by embedding unsightly everyday fashion into the luxury world. During his time at Vetements, for example, the Zurich-based label offered yellow DHL shirts that, aside from the exorbitant price tag, were virtually indistinguishable from those found in the logistics company's merch store.
Demna's enthusiasm for the banal goes so far that he likes to use consumer goods that have absolutely nothing to do with clothing for the catwalk. In the current fall collection, tape with the Balenciaga logo serves as a belt for a faux-fur coat - and as a full-body suit with a fetish look. To go with it, models wore bags that look like trash bags. Only up close can it be seen that they are actually made of leather. Trash Pouch, is the official name of the model.
Source: Imaxtree
Balenciaga is not supposed to be exclusive
Speaking to The Guardian, the Georgian-German designer, who now lives in Switzerland, described his aesthetic as a kind of "hyperrealism." In other words, his fashion is meant to be honest, to redefine luxury, to reflect the everyday in an exaggerated way. "Using something cheap in a new way" - that's how his idea of fashion came about, as Demna recently explained to "The Business of Fashion." But does a new way simply mean more expensive?
Not necessarily. His goal, he said, is to establish an aesthetic that can also be recreated by products that don't even come from his fashion house. Fans should be able to get the Balenciaga look even without Balenciaga products - for Demna, proof of his brand's endurance. "To survive, fashion can no longer be exclusive," he once clarified to "WWD."
Demna's last show before leaving Vetements in 2019 is a prime example. The runway: a McDonalds branch in Paris. The vibe: ultra-normcore. Models wore civil servant uniforms and logo T-shirts inspired by brands like PlayStation, Bose or Heineken. Accessories included GoPros, Ear Pods - and a bag of chips. The chip pack is a logical continuation of this. And I honestly think it's awesome. Will I be storing my chip bags and lovingly carrying them around like purses anytime soon? I certainly won't. Do I admire Demna's zeitgeisty knack for meme-worthy fashion satire? So what. The chip bag probably won't be the new "it" bag, but it's certainly an interesting fashion stunt.
If you want to copy the stunt: You'll find the chip bags of your choice in the Galaxus assortment. Even filled.
Has endless love for shoulder pads, Stratocasters and sashimi, but a limited tolerance for bad impressions of her Eastern Swiss dialect.