Balenciaga's creative director Demna speaks out for the first time amid BDSM scandal
Balenciaga's creative director Denma is opening up for the first time regarding the brand's controversial ad scandal last year.
The fashion label faced major backlash for a campaign ad featuring children posing with the company's plush bear bags, which wear BDSM-inspired harnesses.
Former fans of the brand as well as celebrities were outraged and spoke out against the brand which led to an immediate public apology surrounding the scandal.
While Denma has issued an apology on Instagram, now the designer has opened up for the first time in an interview with Vogue about the troubling campaign and his vision for the future.
"I realise that my work has been seen as provocative, but this specific situation would never be part of my, you know, provocative nature," said Denma.
He explained that he initially chose photographer Gabriele Galimberti's work because he like his past work with toys.
With the need to combine a variety of concepts, products and gifts into one campaign, he thought he could combine all of the aspects rather than shoot all the products launching. "This is where my error comes in," said Denma.
He continued, "That was my big mistake. I didn't realize how inappropriate it would be to put these objects [in the image] and still have the kid in the middle. It unfortunately was the wrong idea and a bad decision from me. We should not have featured kids in images that included objects that were not related and inappropriate to them."
Denma went on to share that while his work has been seen as "provocative," this kind of direction wouldn't normally be a part of his provocative nature.
"I regret this a lot," said Denma.
Moving forward, Denma pointed out that the brand will now go through a restructuring of its past processes with rigorous checks throughout the company to avoid mistakes.
In a past statement issued, Balenciaga's president and CEO Cédric Charbit addressed what actions would be taken with the objective of learning from the company's mistakes as an organization.
"Our current process for content validation has failed, and we recognize the need to do better," said Charbit. He also shared that the company has reorganized its image department to ensure full alignment with corporate guidelines.
