Friends and family gather in latest campaign

Friends and family gather in latest campaign by the house of Balenciaga, as designer Demna includes his mother Ella; his husband, musician BFRND; and even his former professor Linda Loppa.
 

The still and moving portraits in this Balenciaga Summer 24 Collection campaign were shot by the Czech-born, though German-based Jitka Hanzlová. Like Demna, Jitka experienced the trauma of having to flee her native land, in her case Czechoslovakia in 1982. Demna fled his homeland in Georgia aged just 12 during the secessionist war fomented by Russia in the province of Abkhazia.
 
“This series reflects Demna’s world and the identities that comprise his community by featuring his family and friends,” the Paris-based house said in a release.

The other talent includes artist Eliza Douglas; actress Renata Litvinova; friend of the House Krish Ghai, and repeat Balenciaga runway models Tommy Blue, Noureddine Boudaakat, Simone Embrack, Bibi Hoad, Jay Pak, and Khadim Sock.
 
Each person is photographed against a grand backdrop printed with images of halls, ballrooms, staircases and foyers of mansions. 
 

“In these portraits, a line is blurred between a three-dimensional person and a two-dimensional space, questioning the ideas of luxury that the interiors propose. The illusion is further dismantled with a corresponding video series, in which the backdrop is taken down or the difference in perspective is revealed with movement from the model,” the Paris-based house added.
 
The very flatness of architectural images juxtaposed with the collection’s hybrid ready-to-wear, fluid tailoring, fitted casual wear, and trompe l’oeil accessories.
 
The campaign comes three weeks after the latest runway show from Demna, one of the unquestioned highlights of the recent runway season, where Demna’s blend of gigantically shaped nomadic fashion and cyber punk chic was shown in a giant tent in front of Napoleon’s Tomb, whose walls, floors and ceilings were massive video screens – projecting everything from Alpine beauty to a TikTok nightmare.