PARIS
It's early spring in Paris, and Demna, the enigmatic creative director of Balenciaga, leaps up from his chair. He's in a bright showroom, examining a slouchy model with a mullet. Balenciaga's winter 2024 runway show is in two days, and Demna has been holed up here for hours making final adjustments to each look that will hit the catwalk.
Have you seen any documentaries about couture houses? You'll find a more dynamic atmosphere in a monastery. But this showroom, stretching out beneath the vaulted ceilings of a former hospital built in the 17th century, looks kind of like an adult slumber party, soundtracked by earsplitting techno. Following Demna's lead, nearly every person in the room is wearing designer pajama sweats.
I'm asked not to disturb Demna while he's locked in, so I stand to one side and observe the creative choreography at the center of the most radical $2 billion-plus luxury fashion house in Paris.
The collection, I'm told, is deeply personal to Demna, full of flourishes cribbed from his own closet and references to his journey as a fashion designer, which started in unlikely circumstances in Sovietera Georgia and has led to here, where the 43-year-old designer has his fingers on the temples of his shaved head like he's contemplating the secrets of nuclear fission. There's not much to the zip-up sweater and jeans hanging off the model's frame, but Demna's intense focus is understandable. Following a period when Balenciaga went viral for all the wrong reasons, Demna is hoping to cap off a career-defining rebound with another reminder of just how far he has pushed fashion in the past decade.
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
SHABOOZEY THE BIG SHA BANG
Shaboozey spent months at the tippy-top of the charts with a hit song about dealing with hard times the easy way: by hitting the bar. He sang on a couple songs with Beyoncé too. So we asked the one and only SHANIA TWAIN to help country's biggest new star make sense of his explosive year.
HANNAH EINBINDER BORN STANDING UP
With her star turn on Hacks, the comic turned actor has established herself as one of Hollywood's most exciting young talents-much to her own surprise.
Katt Williams The Man Who Opened The Portal
In January, the comic delivered an instantly iconic podcast interview that threw pop culture into crisis-and seemed to predict all manner of messy celebrity gossip to come. At home on his farm, Williams explains why he said what he said— and why he'd do it again, and again, and again....
JOHN DAVID & MALCOLM WASHINGTON A NEW HOLLYWOOD DYNASTY
The Washington brothers built their careers apart—until an irresistible project drew them together. In The Piano Lesson, they tackle a father's thorny legacy.
FUTURE & METRO BOOMIN'S HISTORIC Hit STREAK
What happens when the best rapper alive reunites with the hottest producer of the moment? You get a back-to-back-to-back run unlike any since the Beatles.
PHARRELL WILLIAMS Designer of the Year
Riding along from Paris to Hollywood to New York with the Louis Vuitton *men's creative director, whose prolific and often prophetic contributions to fashion, film, and music have once again thrust him to the center of the pop culture Venn diagram.
JOHN MULANEY. KID GORGEOUS GROWS UP
After immortalizing the whirlwind of the past four yearsrelapse, intervention, recovery-in his awardwinning standup special, John Mulaney has emerged as one of the most popular comedians on earth. For his next trick, he's embracing his surprising new role as a suburban dad.
DWAYNE JOHNSON THE WORLD'S BIGGEST Actor
It's hard for Dwayne Johnson to hide. Wherever he goes, there he is― as conspicuous out in the world as he is on the silver screen. But after two decades of playing a version of himself in huge movies, suddenly Dwayne Johnson is ready to do something entirely new: vanish.
How the WNBA Became the Most Fun, Complicated, and Exciting League in Sports
Caitlin Clark! A'ja Wilson! Angel Reese! This year, women's hoops emerged as a dominant popcultural force. But the road to sports-league supremacy has been long and winding. This is the inside story of how the W finally broke through.
A Companion for Your Wrist
Audemars Piguet's new release with artist Brian Donnelly, a.k.a. KAWS, brings high-art hype to the world of pop-watch collabs.
