Demna's final farewell. With this Paris exhibition, the designer bids farewell to Balenciaga

Demna Gvasalia, a fashion designer famous for his many surprising and often controversial designs, created for Balenciaga for 10 years. In March 2025, he announced his departure to take the helm of the Gucci fashion house. However, before he says the final word during the July show, he gathered his best designs at the Paris exhibition "Balenciaga by Demna". It will be on display until July 9, 2025 at the headquarters of the Kering holding.

The free-to-view exhibition traces Demna's decade of work for Balenciaga, featuring more than 101 complete looks from of 30 collections designed by this Georgian.

- I think these 10 years have been a journey for me in search of ways to push boundaries, to perceive fashion in a different way, especially in the context of luxury - the 44-year-old artist told Vogue.

Balenciaga by Demna exhibition in Paris / Balenciaga press materials, photo: Annik Wetter

The exhibition opens with an email that the designer received from Balenciaga in 2007. From this email, as a recent graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, he learned that he had not been accepted for an internship.

"I had to search through my old email account to find it. Luckily, I was rejected," he said.

Balenciaga by Demna exhibition in Paris / Balenciaga press materials, photo: Annik Wetter

The exhibition presents the designer's most characteristic styles - from sumptuous creations to bold accessories. Audio recordings can be played for 50 objects, in which you can hear Demna's comments on the objects viewed.

Balenciaga by Demna exhibition in Paris / Balenciaga press materials, photo: Annik Wetter

This is a kind of farewell for the Georgian with Balenciaga and a summary of a ten-year chapter that will end with a haute-couture show on July 3, 2025. Demna will write the next chapter of his story at the Gucci fashion house.