Transmissions: Déjà Démodé

Demna wearing a mask to the Met Gala

TRANSMISSIONS is a communicable and speculative sociological research column by JORDAN RICHMAN. Traversing the globe and immersing himself into perceived moments of relevance, Richman mines the fields of fashion and culture – extracting with you his thoughts, encounters, and societal foreshadowing.

After an extended hiatus, Richman returns to the fashion circuit only to find the lights dimmer and the gossip exhausted. From Milanese dinners to Parisian whispers, it’s all déjà vu and déjà démodé. As new Instagram intel accounts outpace legacy media by six months, our columnist tracks the ultimate game of musical chairs—creative directors swapped like expired starlets, and Demna exiting one brand to helm another. Is it reinvention, redemption, or just another rerun? In an industry addicted to novelty yet haunted by repetition, Richman wonders: what future does fashion still have left to imagine?

I once heard a statistic suggesting that the majority of luxury heritage brand customers don’t even know the names of the creative directors behind the brands they buy. If that’s accurate, why do we in cultural media care—and write these insipid think pieces—about designers departing brands? Nevertheless, I persist. Demna is leaving Balenciaga for Gucci. After ten years, his departure marks the end of an era. During his tenure, he delivered “normcore,” “cringecore,” and ultimately, the end of the “-core” suffix altogether as fashion moves in the direction of something more “boom boom.” The fashion world has not stopped buzzing. New fashion “news” Instagram accounts arise all the time, spreading “information” at the pace of the impending measles pandemic and ruins the exclusives of major media companies—sometimes by several hours, other times by six months. The never-ending game of creative director musical chairs has left the business exhausted, and with so much instability, it has spoiled what was once the lifeblood of the industry—gossip.

From Milan to Paris, I can’t tell you how many colleagues have shared how they have lost all interest in what was once an engrossing industry. We might as well be working for the corporation in Severance (2022), which I still haven’t seen, or in the Duran Lantink office setting of his recent show—the one I couldn’t be bothered to cross the river to see (that’s right, I’m now a “Right Banker”)—even knowing it would be his final show before being named the next creative director at Jean Paul Gaultier. Supposed brand appointments—some already disproven—like Daniel Lee to Jil Sander emerged before the official announcements that the previous heads would roll. Others remain unconfirmed (at the time of publication), like Maria Grazia Chiuri departing Dior and Jonathan Anderson taking up its dove-grey stone mantle.

Demna’s selfie announcing his move to Gucci

All this to say, I was shocked by Kering’s evening announcement on March 13th—at the end of fashion month and without a whisper beforehand—that Demna would be the next artistic director of Gucci. Ahead of the Balenciaga show, employees from the brand hinted to me that Balenciaga would not go on as it was forever. But I interpreted this as Demna exiting, taking with him all the money he earned from Balenciaga—untaxed by strategically moving to Switzerland (first outside Zurich, then Geneva)—to enjoy his new life in LA, free from the rat race. Since Frieze London last October, I had it on good authority that Hedi Slimane would go to Gucci. As for Sabato De Sarno, he would be paid a rumored (or estimated) 18 million euros to politely fuck off.

During Milan Fashion Week, at another Italian brand’s dinner with Jo-Ann Furniss, I mentioned how vicious the fashion press had become to Sabato—for what purpose? His collections weren’t offensive, just bland. However, fashion journalists brutally shredded his collections apart, like they were last season’s remainders. Yet, only after it was collectively decided that Sabato was a flop did these journalists pen their sharpest criticisms—displaying their integrity by proving that even an advertiser as big, or once as big, as Gucci was fair game.

Demna’s appointment should not be surprising, as I orginally heard claims he was intended to succeed Alessandro Michele at Gucci. There was almost an audition process with the “Hacker Project,” where Gucci incorporated Balenciaga’s signatures and Balenciaga reinterpreted Gucci’s iconic motifs. But this was before Fox News accused Demna of child exploitation and his long-standing relationship with the now Hitler-loving Ye became a liability. In my last Transmission column, I wrote about Demna’s first post-scandal collection, using an early offline version of ChatGPT—the AI chatbot—which incorrectly explained the controversy as follows: “Balenciaga’s move is particularly concerning given the history of BDSM as a subculture that has faced ongoing stigma and discrimination. The fetishization of BDSM imagery not only undermines the agency and autonomy of those who engage in BDSM practices but also perpetuates harmful stereotypes about the community.” But now, several years later, ChatGPT has significantly improved. I asked it to research all the controversies surrounding the brand during Demna’s time. In addition to the aforementioned scandals, the results included allegations of cultural appropriation, plagiarism, lack of diversity in early runway shows, mistreatment of models during a casting session, and the promotion of unhealthy beauty standards, among others.

Hacker Project campaign. Photography Harley Weir

When Demna joined Balenciaga in 2015, following Alexander Wang’s exit, the brand's sales were approximately $350 million. By 2022, sales had surged to around $2 billion, marking a substantial increase under his leadership. Demna won numerous awards— including, International Ready-to-Wear Designer of the Year and Accessories Designer of the Year at the Fashion Awards; International Designer of the Year and International Women’s Designer of the Year at the CFDA Fashion Awards—and was named a Leader of Change in Creativity by the British Fashion Council. He was also listed among Time 100’s Most Influential People in the World. But after all the scandals and near cancellation, the golden Balenciaga cage of the great provocateur Demna had become a brokedown palace. Can we expect Demna will return to form with a second act at Gucci? The brand’s CEO said of the upcoming designer, “Demna will lead the House toward renewed fashion authority and enduring cultural relevance.” The finance world, however, appears uncertain, with Kering’s shares trading down over 11 percent in Paris at the Bourse the morning following the group’s announcement of Demna’s promotion.

Balenciaga FW22 runway show visual

Before the scandal, Balenciaga shows were grand challenging spectacles designed by sub—the EU blue Parliament spiral show, the climate crisis show, and the snowstorm refugee show. At this stage, the shows themselves began to outshine the collections, particularly after Lotta Volkova parted ways with the brand in 2018, and Balenciaga entered a new aesthetic period: Margiela 3.0. Meanwhile, Lotta helped propel the meteoric rise of Miu Miu following her appointment as stylist in 2020. The Guardian referred to Miu Miu as the “world’s hottest brand,” and during a time of economic downturn, “Miu Miu has defied the sales plunge in the fashion industry.” Meanwhile, Balenciaga has been in decline since 2022 in terms of revenue and profit.

Demna’s appointment and work at Balenciaga certainly moved fashion out of its mid-century couture salons and onto the world wide web, thanks to his internet literacy—something that was uncommon among his creative director predecessors. At the start, Balenciaga was exciting and avant-garde—beautifully difficult early collections transformed the revolutionary silhouettes of Cristóbal into something for the digital nomad, hunchback generation that sits in front of computers their whole lives. Collaborations with artists featured those showing at Galerie Neu, not Gagosian. Relatable Instagram content wasn’t glossy magazine campaigns but cursed images of close friends posing in next-season’s gear. The memeification of fashion. I’ve joked with my friend Sean Monahan that he broke fashion by foisting “normcore” on us, along with his K-Hole comrades. Because what is fashion after the highbrow, brilliant embrace of sweatpants and shower shoes? On Gucci’s Instagram announcement post, one user commented: “At best, Demna is anti-fashion, expressing the harsh realities in a world of extravagant luxury. At worst, it’s cynical capitalism making fun of the consumer—the idea that they don’t have style, they only have money.”

Balenciaga's "We Vote For Tomorrow" SS20 collection posters

As a fan of Demna’s since his first Vetements collection, I’ve had the greatest expectations for the designer—expectations that are difficult to measure up to. I remain optimistic and have high anticipations for his future at Gucci. In the words of Balenciaga model Tyra Banks from the infamous America’s Next Top Model clip, where she yells at a contestant: “I was rooting for you. We were all rooting for you.”

Balenciaga Le City Bag 2025 campaign featuring Tyra Banks