Friday 25 November 2022 02:11 AM Now Balenciaga sue the creative masterminds behind warped children's ... trends now
Balenciaga will take legal action against creatives behind a photo set that included a Supreme Court brief regarding child porn but will not sue the photographer who took photos of children holding teddy bears with BDSM accessories on them.
The fashion shoots were taken separately for the company's holiday 2022 and spring 2023 campaigns and outraged many online, leading one of the photographers involved to say he's been the target of a 'lynching' and had no creative control over the project.
A spokesperson for Balenciaga clarified the fashion brand's position on both shoots in a statement to DailyMail.com, saying that Galimberti's holiday 2022 teddy bear shoot, while it forced them to apologize, is not going to be the subject of a lawsuit.
They said: 'Balenciaga is not taking any legal action towards Gabriele Galimberti, the photographer of the Holiday campaign, that includes a child holding a teddy bear bag.
'Gabriele Galimberti was not involved in any way with the Spring 23 campaign involving unsettling documents in an office.'
Balenciaga will not sue the Italian photographer Gabriele Galimberti, who took shots of children holding a teddy bear dressed in a BDSM outfit but will against creatives behind a different photo set that included a bizarre Easter egg showing a Supreme Court decision regarding child porn
Balenciaga, a globally-renowned Spanish fashion house who dress the likes of Kim Kardashian and Nicole Kidman among other, appear to be laying the blame at the photographer, Gabriele Galimberti
Fashion brand Balenciaga is apologizing for what many believe is a photoshoot that amounts to child pornography, with a child holding a teddy bear dressed in a BDSM outfit
Balenciaga will be taking legal action against creatives behind a different photo set that included a bizarre Easter egg showing a Supreme Court decision regarding child porn
They are, however, going to be 'taking legal action against the parties responsible for creating the Spring 23 set and including unapproved items for that campaign photoshoot.'
They are referring to a photo containing an excerpt from the 2008 US Supreme Court opinion in United States v. Williams, which upheld part of a federal child pornography law, which Twitter's own fact-checkers confirmed.
Those photos have been attributed to American photographer Chris Maggio, according to Newsweek. DailyMail.com clarified that Maggio is also not going to face legal action.
Maggio has worked on campaigns and with music artists, including directing a music video for 100 gecs. He has yet to respond to the controversy.
The fashion house's spokesperson went on to say that 'Chris Maggio was a photographer for the Spring 23 campaign. There is no legal action being taken against him. He did not create the set nor have anything to do with the unapproved items within it.'
When asked who exactly Balenciaga would be taking legal action against, the spokesperson declined comment, but said that those involved were hired for that set alone and not full-time employees.
Gabriele Galimberti, who has been featured in National Geographic, The Sunday Times, Stern, Geo, Le Monde, La Repubblica and Marie Claire, addressed the controversy on Instagram Wednesday.
He wrote: 'Following the hundreds of hate mails and messages I received as a result of the photos I took for the Balenciaga campaign, I feel compelled to make this statement.
'I am not in a position to comment Balenciaga's choices, but I must stress that I was not entitled in whatsoever manner to neither chose the products, nor the models, nor the combination of the same.'
Galimberti - who appears to deal in controversial subjects, having won the World Press Photo 2021 in the 'Portrait Stories' category with his project THE AMERIGUNS - seems to argue that he was just holding the camera and in charge of the lighting.
Gabriele Galimberti, who has been featured in National Geographic, The Sunday Times, Stern, Geo, Le Monde, La Repubblica and Marie Claire, addressed the controversy on Instagram Wednesday
'I am not in a position to comment Balenciaga's choices, but I must stress that I was not entitled in whatsoever manner to neither chose the products, nor the models, nor the combination of the same,' he wrote
He continues: 'As a photographer, I was only and solely requested to lit the given scene, and take the shots according to my signature style.
'As usual for a commercial shooting, the direction of the campaign and the choice of the objects displayed are not in the hands of the photographer.'
The photographer Galimberti promoted the images as part of a project series he called 'Toy Stories,' in an apparent reference to the Disney/Pixar film series, according to the Daily Dot.
He writes of the project on his website: 'For over two years, I visited more than 50 countries and created colorful images of boys and girls in their homes and neighborhoods with their most prized possessions: their toys.'
'From Texas to India, Malawi to China, Iceland, Morocco, and Fiji, I recorded the spontaneous and natural joy that unites kids despite their diverse backgrounds. Whether the child owns a veritable fleet of miniature cars or a single stuffed monkey, the pride that they have is moving, funny, and thought provoking.'
Ultimately, he calls the reaction, in which he has been accused on his social media pages of being a pedophile, as equivalent to 'lynching' and says that they 'are addressed against wrong targets, and distract from the real problem, and criminals.'
He wrote: 'I
