Sure, a man named “Demna” may be the creative director for a fashion ad campaign that was as close to child pornography without being child pornography as we’ve ever seen, but at least he’s learned his lesson.
The creative director at fashion house Balenciaga issued a mea culpa on Instagram on Friday, that appeared to indicate he would be remaining in his position at the company, but assuring everyone he would do better and listen to victims’ groups and yadda yadda yadda.
The pro forma apology from Denma — the 41-year-old native of the former Soviet republic of Georgia dropped his surname Gvasalia because apparently he wasn’t already enough of a fashion cliché before that — said that it was a “wrong artistic choice.”
You don’t say. Roughly two weeks ago, the fashion house became embroiled in a global controversy after a series of ads featured young girls holding teddy bears attired in bondage gear. In one of the shots, a girl is pictured lying on a couch. In front of her is a table with empty wine glasses on it.
That wasn’t all of it. Some of it was less overt, as Michael Brendan Dougherty pointed out at National Review:
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“Recent ad images for Balenciaga also featured, in the background, a coffee-table book by painter Michaël Borremans, whose work includes images of castrated toddlers. Another photo taken in an office incorporates a diploma made out to John Philip Fisher, the name of a man convicted in 2018 for molesting his granddaughter,” he wrote.
“Another image, with a child standing in a messy room, featuring a teddy bear in fishnets, has warning tape with the word ‘BAALENCIAGA,’ a play on the name of the brand and the name of the Old Testament Canaanite god who demanded child sacrifice.”
As the controversy erupted, Balenciaga promptly threw senior stylist Lotta Volkova, the woman reportedly behind the photo shoots for the campaign, under the bus. It didn’t help Volkova’s position that she has a whole social media account full of creepy pictures full of satanic imagery, torture and child mutilation.
That said, Denma mea culpa is a master class in refusing to take responsibility for the biggest high fashion scandal in recent…
Staff