Balenciaga’s creative director, Demna Gvasalia, has issued an apology amid a massive scandal over the fashion house’s recent controversial ad campaigns involving children.
The 41-year-old fashion designer, simply known as Demna, took to Instagram on Friday to issue a statement about the two ads, which have been facing immense backlash. He expressed his regrets about including children in the campaigns and acknowledged that it wasn’t appropriate to do so.
“I want to personally apologise for the wrong artistic choice of concept for the gifting campaign with kids and I take my responsibility,” he wrote. “It was inappropriate to have kids promote objects that had nothing to do with them.”
The luxury brand has found itself embroiled in controversy over two ad campaigns, one with a child model holding a “BDSM teddy bear” and another featuring a Supreme Court decision on child pornography and a book about Belgian artist Michaël Borremans.
In his statement, Demna went on condemn child abuse and said that he plans to learn more about organisations that are centred on protecting children.
“As much as I would sometimes like to provoke a thought through my work, I would NEVER have an intention to do that with such an awful subject as child abuse that I condemn,” he continued. “I need to learn from this, listen and engage with child protection organisations to know how I can contribute and help on this terrible subject.”
He concluded his apology by sharing what Balenciaga’s next steps would be, following the scandal.
“I apologise to anyone offended by the visuals and Balenciaga has guaranteed that adequate measures will be taken not only to avoid similar mistakes in the future but also to take accountability in protecting child welfare in every way we can,” he concluded.
Deman’s apology comes days after Balenciaga issued a statement addressing the fallout over its ad campaigns and condemning child abuse.
“We strongly condemn child abuse; it was never our intent to include it in our narrative,” the brand wrote on Instagram. “The two separate ad campaigns in question reflect a series of grievous errors for which Balenciaga takes responsibility.”
The brand proceeded to address the issues with each campaign, noting that the ad with the teddy bear “should not have been featured with children”.
“This was a wrong choice by Balenciaga, combined with our failure in assessing and validating images,” the company wrote. “The responsibility for this lies with Balenciaga alone.”
Balenciaga also discussed the set of the Spring 2023 campaign that had a backdrop that featured purses displayed atop the 2008 Supreme Court case United States v Williams, which criminalised the pandering of child pornography.
“They turned out to be real legal papers most likely coming from the filming of a television drama,” the statement continued. “The inclusion of these unapproved documents was the result of reckless negligence for which Balenciaga has filed a complaint.”
Amid the brand’ scandal, Demna’s previous comments, where he praised Balenciaga’s popularity, have come to light. in During an episode of Intersections: The Art Basel podcast that was released on 20 October, mere weeks before Balenciaga began facing widespread backlash, the fashion designer spoke about his success and said that he nog long has to think “no longer [has to] think about making the fashion industry understand” what he creates.
“I just do it,” he said in the podcat. “Whether I’m proud of it or not, it doesn’t matter anymore. I don’t have anybody to convince or explain things to. The only people I need to have a conversation with are the people who wear what I do and who understand what I do. And who appreciate it.”
Throughout the last week, many celebrities have spoken out about the ads, including notable Balenciaga ambassador Kim Kardashian. On Sunday, she took to her Twitter and Instagram to address the controversial teddy bear campaign and said that she’s “re-evaluating” her relationship with the fashion house.
“I appreciate Balenciaga’s removal of the campaigns and apology. In speaking with them, I believe they understand the seriousness of the issue and will take the necessary measures for this to never happen again,” the Skims founder wrote.
“As for my future with Balenciaga, I am currently re-evaluating my relationship with the brand, basing it off their willingness to accept accountability for something that should have never happened to begin with — & the actions I am expecting to see them take to protect children,” she concluded.
