Balenciaga recruits real-life couples for FW19 campaign

The luxury house bets on the casual and effortless French style and presents the collection in a real life Parisian environment.

Balenciaga | FW19 Campaign

We saw it in March. Balenciaga’s FW19 collection took a radical turn to focus on people, the street and everyday life. Demna Gvasalia described the bet as an ode to the customer, to that fashion lover who wanders around shopping. “When I’m on the streets of Paris, that’s what I see”, the designer said to present his fashion show.

Now, the collection campaign emerges as the garments begin to be marketed. And the images leave no room for doubt: Gvasalia wants the class and style that go through the city of love, that which is on the other side of the shop window and not inside in an unreal and dreamlike image. To evoke this essence, the signature has recruited street couples as models, achieving an atmosphere of reality and actuality and uniting luxury with the street.

Each of the couples boasts a union and a chemistry that is obvious. The settings chosen are daily transit spaces, from a fruit shop to the terrace of a cafeteria, and of course on the shores of the Seine. Wedding photographer Greg Finck has captured the lovers. The campaign video was made by artist Ed Fornieles and documents the five couples talking about their relationship in an interview.

As we expected from the fashion show, there is no Triple S in sight. Dad shoes have been replaced by black leather shoes with square toe. The garments exhibit exquisite functionality for the cold months, with oversize coats and anoraks, washed baggy jeans and sweatshirts as the protagonists. Each outfit offers a different vision of Balenciaga’s key points, although always with that savoir faire that leaves us speechless.