All is forgiven: Balenciaga boss Demna is lauded by friend Kim Kardashian and ... trends now
Kim Kardashian and billionaire François-Henri Pinault have praised Balenciaga creative director Demna two years after his brand was boycotted over a child BDSM ad campaign.
In the Harper's Bazaar profile, Kardashian described Demna as a 'gentle soul' who 'knows exactly what he wants' while Pinault said he 'influences the whole of fashion'.
Their endorsements come two years after Balenciaga was thrown into chaos after running a pair of adverts featuring a child holding a teddy bear dressed in a BDSM outfit and another with court documents about child pornography.
The ensuing scandal saw a mass boycott of Balenciaga products, with some critics even burning clothes and graffitiing store fronts.
The brand issued an apology, but over a year on sales were still down with the 'Other Houses' division it falls into at parent company Kering dropping 15 percent in the third quarter of 2023, according to Vogue.
'Longtime friend' Kim Kardashian praised Demna in a new Harper's Bazaar piece
The story comes two years after the brand was boycotted for a pair of adverts which saw children posing with BDSM bears
Balenciaga creative director Demna who was blamed for the advertising scandals
Despite this, the new Harper's Bazaar interview with Demna only briefly addressed the scandal, referring to it as a 'tumult' that surrounded the 'controversial' pair of adverts.
It says Demna is 'candid' about what a 'dark period' it was, and quotes him saying: 'I had a difficult year, and doing the show here is just like…' with a sigh of relief.
He later added: 'I think that I am steadily and very persistently evolving my body of work. I think I am better now than I was before, but I'm not as good as I should be.
'In seven years of therapy, [I learned] that the best and most important relationship I have is with myself.'
He added: 'I don't have a strategy about what I do; I just do it.'
Instead of reflecting on the scandal, the piece focuses on his work and his relationships with the celebrities he collaborates with.
It quotes 'longtime friend' of Demna and brand ambassador, Kardashian as saying: 'He's just such a gentle soul who knows exactly what he wants.
'He doesn't need all the people around him
