A résumé exhibition curated by Demna, Balenciaga by Demna encapsulates his decade at the House from 2015 to 2025. Staged inside Kering’s Laennec headquarters, a historic 17th-century landmark in Paris’s 7th arrondissement.
Held at Kering’s historic Laennec headquarters, the show is open by appointment and runs through July 9. It coincides with Demna’s departure from Balenciaga and new appointment as creative director at Gucci. His successor, Pierpaolo Piccioli, is expected to begin a new direction for the house.
Expanding on Exactitudes—Balenciaga’s Spring 2026 collection and Demna’s final ready-to-wear show for the House—the exhibition presents the design codes, silhouettes, and attitudes that have defined his tenure.
The show opens with a series of object-based invitations from past runway presentations, followed by 101 exhibits selected by Demna. These include full ensembles, individual garments, accessories, and footwear drawn from 30 collections across ten years, with two pieces on loan from the Palais Galliera fashion museum.
Key themes include reinterpretations of Cristóbal Balenciaga’s archival codes, formal exercises in proportion, explorations of the readymade, trompe-l’oeil constructions, upcycled garments, and Demna’s ongoing inquiry into the boundaries between fashion and luxury—what people wear, how they wear it, and the social meaning embedded in the contemporary wardrobe.
Fifty of the exhibits are accompanied by custom audio, narrated in a digitally rendered version of Demna’s voice. Displays include custom-built mounts, hyperrealistic mannequins of original runway models, dry-cleaner-style hangers, and dual-sided installations presenting garments alongside archival references.
Select pieces are installed as artworks, created in collaboration with artists from the Balenciaga Art in Stores program. These include a reinterpretation of Demna’s closing look from the Summer 2022 “Red Carpet” collection by American artist Mark Jenkins, realized as a life-sized humanoid sculpture. Six accessories are incorporated into Timeless Symbols, a kinetic sculpture series by Andrew J. Greene, mounted on rotating stainless steel stanchions.
A printed catalogue in the format of a fashion magazine features installation photography alongside newly commissioned imagery developed specifically for the exhibition.
Balenciaga by Demna June 26 – July 9th 2025, 40 rue de Sèvres, Paris 75007,
TICKETS: exposition.balenciaga.com.
