Demna Gvasalia

Demna Gvasalia (Georgian: დემნა გვასალია dem-NAH gvah-SAH-lee-AH) is a Georgian fashion designer, currently the creative director of Balenciaga and the co-founder of Vetements.^[2]

Early life and education[]

Gvasalia was born in Georgia, in 1981, to a Georgian Orthodox Christian family. He fled at age 12, during the country’s violent civil war, and went on to live in Düsseldorf from 2001 onwards.^[3][2]

Gvasalia studied international economics for four years at Tbilisi State University^[4] and later attended the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, where he graduated with a Master's Degree in Fashion Design in 2006.^[5]

Career[]

In 2006, Gvasalia collaborated with Walter van Beirendonck on his men’s collections.^[5]

In 2009, Gvasalia joined Maison Martin Margiela, where he was responsible for women’s collections until 2013.^[6][7] In 2013, he was appointed senior designer of women’s ready-to-wear collections at Louis Vuitton, initially under Marc Jacobs and briefly under Nicolas Ghesquière.^[5]

Together with his brother Guram, Gvasalia launched the brand Vetements in 2014, along with a small group of anonymous friends, displaying their work in small gay clubs in Paris.^[8][9][10] Gvasalia has said that his original purpose with the brand was to subvert the high fashion status quo.^[8] Vetements’ first women’s ready-to-wear collection was presented at Paris Fashion Week in 2014.^[7] The collective was nominated for the LVMH’s Young Fashion Designer Prize after producing 3 collections.^[11]

In 2015, Gvasalia became the creative director of Balenciaga, succeeding Alexander Wang.^[12][13]

In 2019, Gvasalia left Vetements to pursue new artistic ventures, having accomplished his goals with the company, telling Highsnobiety that he had "accomplished [his] mission of a conceptualist and design innovator."^[14]

In August 2021, Gvasalia collaborated with Kanye West, acting as the creative director for West’s second Donda album listening event, held at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium.^[15][16]

At the 2021 Met Gala at New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art Gvasalia walked the stairs with reality television star Kim Kardashian, both in his head-to-toe body feature obscuring Black Balenciaga designs completely masked, with Vogue offering that events rules had been rewritten.^[17]

Design[]

Gvasalia developed a unique style as his company, Vetements, grew in size and popularity. Much of Gvasalia's approach still stems from his initial purpose of creating subversive fashion. Collections such as Fall/Winter 2017 included design inspired by archetypes, diverging from the typical haute couture method of radical redesign and avant-garde appearance.^[8] Other common themes include baggy, loose-fitting clothing, and street-style jackets.^[18] In April 2021 he presented his new Pre-Fall 2021 collection with the Balenciaga brand, marking a new line of design and personal thinking, as promoted by Vanity Teen magazine.^[19]

Awards[]

Gvasalia won the International Award for Vetements and Balenciaga at the CFDA Fashion Awards in 2017. He also won the Accessories Designer of the Year award at the Fashion Awards 2018 ^[20] Gvasalia won the Global Women’s Designer award at the CFDA Fashion Awards in 2021. On September 27, 2021, Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili awarded Gvasalia with the Order of Honor for him contribution to the popularization of Georgia abroad.^[21]

See also[]

• David Koma, Georgian fashion designer, former creative director of Mugler

References[]