Kering-owned French luxury fashion brand Balenciaga has announced plans to show its men’s and women’s collections together, starting from the forthcoming Paris Fashion Week in March 2018.
The move follows suit with several of the brand’s contemporaries like Burberry, Moschino, Kenzo, Vivienne Westwood and even fellow Kering-owned powerhouse Gucci, to name a few.
As gender becomes an increasingly fluid term in fashion, companies are quickly realizing that co-ed presentations are a great way to reduce costs, logistically speaking. They also enable creative directors in presenting a more consistent vision for the season and create an open-ended approach for people to reinterpret their work in their own way.
For Balenciaga, the move is not just about a cohesive vision; the Gvasalia-led brand is looking to increase its focus on the men’s market in a big way. They will be presenting the first-ever men’s pre-collection via private appointment to buyers and media at the upcoming Men’s Fashion Week in Paris as well.
The brand will now be presenting a total of four men’s collections in a year. This will be a huge shakeup for the brand, which was until Gvasalia’s appointment in 2015, was only presenting one collection per season through showroom appointments.
Balenciaga’s Artistic Director Demna Gvasalia practically launched menswear for the brand and the introduction has proved to be a massive success for the designer in just a few seasons. Gvasalia is also the Design Head of his own massively famous streetwear brand, Vetements, which enjoys an almost blind cult following among the younger generation of fashion loyalists.
