From Balenciaga and onward to Gucci: Demna’s final show was his legacy letter

Each look showed how Demna embraced Balenciaga’s signature silhouettes and flipped them on their head, mixing his streetwear roots with the brand’s grand heritage to challenge traditional ideas of luxury. Photo: Balenciaga

It’s rare that anyone gets to curate their own legacy. Usually that’s the prerogative of the future, something that can only happen in retrospect.

But on Wednesday (July 9) in Paris, Demna, the mononymic designer who has defined Balenciaga for the past 10 years, transforming it from a symbol of austere and unattainable perfection into a pop culture phenomenon, was able to use his final couture show to do exactly that.