Celebrities are under pressure to part ways with Balenciaga after the Spanish fashion house released a disturbing photo shoot for its official holiday campaign.
Balenciaga shared a set of photos with child models to promote its Spring/Summer 2023 collection ahead of the holiday season.
Its followers were shocked by the shoot’s sexual overtones, with the children photographed holding teddy bears dressed in bondage gear.
Upon closer examination of past Balenciaga photoshoots, internet sleuths have been uncovering more sinister messages embedded in their campaigns.
Now Kim Kardashian, the face of the brand, says she’s reconsidering her partnership with Balenciaga in light of the scandal.
But other celebrity supporters of the brand, including Nicole Kidman and Dua Lipa, are yet to address the controversy.
Warning: This article contains images that may distress some readers
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Creepy campaign
Balenciaga began sharing its holiday campaign on November 16, which promoted its ‘Objects’ range.
The photos featured child models holding teddy bears dressed in bondage gear.
Fashion fiends were quick to denounce Balenciaga, calling the photos inappropriate and creepy.
Balenciaga swiftly issued a brief apology and removed any trace of the campaign from its Instagram page and website.
Just when the fashion house (likely) thought that conversation was behind it, fans delved into previous campaigns.
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A closer look
While the initial images could have been dismissed as a clumsy, yet creepy, error on the fashion house’s part, eagle-eyed followers uncovered more incriminating evidence.
In a recent photo shoot for Balenciaga’s collaboration with sportswear brand Adidas, one Twitter user found that the shoot held a hidden message.
In the campaign, a black handbag is seen laid over a pile of papers.
One page, they found, is an excerpt from a Supreme Court ruling related to the possession and distribution of child pornography.
The scandal took a new turn when another sleuth discovered a different photo shoot included a book by an artist called Michael Borremans, called Fire from the Sun.
And to their horror, they found the book contained paintings of naked children.
Given these two damning pieces of evidence, it’s hard to imagine that there isn’t an underlying menacing intention behind the fashion house.
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Shirking responsibility
Although Balenciaga has taken responsibility for the teddy bear photos, it hasn’t done the same with the hidden messages.
The fashion house apologised, but announced it would be pursuing legal action “against the parties responsible for creating the set and including unapproved items” for their Spring 2023 campaign photo shoot.
In a further statement on Tuesday, it said the materials used in the shoot were “provided by third parties that confirmed in writing that these props were fake office documents”.
But that begs the question: If it wasn’t the head honchos at Balenciaga calling the shots, who was?
Photographer Gabriele Galimberti, who was one of the photographers at the teddy bear shoot – but not the Adidas shoot – said the set design was not his choosing.
“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 said in an Instagram post.
“As is 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.”
Stars weigh in
Kim Kardashian, who was made the brand’s ambassador in April this year, has been under immense pressure to address the scandal.
And it appears that the partnership between the brand and the reality star could be over, just months after it began.
Kardashian told her hundreds of millions of followers on Monday that she was in the process of re-evaluating her relationship with the brand amid the controversy.
She also said that the photo shoot had left her “shaken” as a mother of four.
“The safety of children must be held with the highest regard and any attempts to normalise child abuse of any kind should have no place in our society — period.”
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But some fans said it wasn’t enough for Kardashian to simply consider parting ways with the brand.
“Imagine being super rich and still choosing money instead of protecting children from paedophiles. And she’s a mother! It’s sick,” said one Twitter user.
“What is Kim Kardashian playing at? I’m sure as a mother you would cut ties with Balenciaga right away?” said another.
“But yet she’s tweeted saying she’s ‘re-evaluating the situation’. What’s there to re-evaluate? The company are promoting kids with BDSM, it’s disgusting.”
While Kardashian took almost a week to address the shocking discoveries, she was still quicker than other associated celebrities.
High-profile stars who have worked with Balenciaga, including British pop star Dua Lipa and Aussie actress Nicole Kidman, are yet to comment.
Lipa’s relationship with Balenciaga was alive and well just days ago when she wore a Balenciaga gown for her appearance at an Elton John concert.
Lipa and Kidman proudly modelled Balenciaga’s designs in July, when they walked in the fashion house’s 51st couture show in Paris.
As did supermodel Bella Hadid, but she was far quicker to distance herself from the brand.
Hadid had featured in Balenciaga’s most recent womenswear campaign, and had shared an image from the campaign to her Instagram on Tuesday.
But by Wednesday, the photo had been taken down.
Balenciaga’s former designer Nicolas Ghesquière also came out the woodwork to address the matter.
Now the creative director of Louis Vuitton, Ghesquière is credited with turning Balenciaga into one of the strongest brands of its parent company, Kering.
Ghesquière posted a cryptic message on Instagram about Kering.
“When I left @kering in 2012 I felt disconnected and hurt by [their] values and dishonesty.”
