.jpg)
Welcome to the latest instalment of we’re not worthy of Isabelle Huppert. Sacré bleu, she looked good at the Balenciaga show. The seasoned Demna disciple, who memorably shook things up at Cannes in the creative director’s second-skin satin, did the step and repeat at the autumn/winter 2022 show wearing a luxe leather version of the pantaboots that have taken the celebrity world by storm.
The house muse, shaded by her face-shielding sunglasses, delivered her usual low-grade sass in front of the cameras. Surrounded by rappers, including A$APs Nast and Ferg, and bright young things, such as Euphoria’s Alexa Demie, all doing their best versions of Balenciaga’s severe, futuristic look, it was Huppert and her shocking neon bag who quietly stole the spotlight. Often lauded for her perfect French style, Balenciaga has brought out a more subversive side to the 68-year-old that’s impossibly cool.
The photocall, which also saw Kim Kardashian stake her claim as the most committed Balenciaga poster girl, almost didn’t happen, after Demna grappled with the absurdity of fashion week in light of the conflict in Ukraine. “In a time like this, fashion loses its relevance and its actual right to exist,” the Georgian designer told show-goers. His decision to go ahead was rooted in his own personal wish to not surrender to the evil that had caused him pain when he became a “forever refugee” in 1993. The show, he said, was “a dedication to fearlessness, to resistance, and to the victory of love and peace”. For Huppert and everyone else watching, the atmospheric presentation will go down in the brand’s history for its stark reminder of the fragility of life and, indeed, fashion.
