Balenciaga’s Demna Retrospective: A Legacy Rewritten and Preserved at Zoo
In a bold move that bridges fashion past, present and future, Balenciaga has unveiled a retrospective exhibition dedicated to Demna at their Rue De Sevres headquarters in Paris. This homage doesn’t just look back, rather cementing Demna’s era as a defining moment in the house's identity. For those of us at Zoo Fashions, who have long championed his most radical and sought-after pieces, the exhibition is more than just a showcase, it’s a mirror of our own journey curating and collecting his most iconic work.
Demna’s tenure at Balenciaga is as much about silhouette as it is about subversion. The retrospective traces his transformation of the brand’s DNA, from couture heritage to street-laced avant-garde. It's this very journey that we've archived over the years, and as such Balenciaga will be the first brand to be featured in the brand new and exclusive edition to our online store - ‘Rare (S)Pieces’ launching later this month. This will be a dedicated space for those items that we have held back and coveted, lifted straight from the retrospective’s timeline and made available again for those discerning enthusiasts hunting for those grails.
Amongst those vintage pieces will be the original Incognito jacket and the C-shape parka, two pieces that redefined proportions and privacy. The Pinched Puffa, another standout, manipulated volume in a way that reimagined the classic puffa into an almost sculptural garment. These silhouettes are foundational to understanding Demna’s reshaping of outerwear, turning protection into performance.
Our archive also includes playful yet deeply conceptual pieces like the T-shirt Shirt, a masterclass in layered irony, and the Glow-in-the-Dark Lion T-shirt, a cult classic that taps into Demna’s knack for wearable commentary. Similarly, the BB Corp Shirt and Exercise Print Shirt reflect his sharp critique of corporate identity, wellness culture, and everyday uniforms. They're all tongue-in-cheek, but never without intellectual rigour.
Footwear too, plays a pivotal role in the retrospective, and as a key part to our ‘Rare (S)Pieces’ collection. The exhibit’s inclusion of the Excavator Boot, Alaska Boot, and various iterations of the Speed Trainer, including the Speed 3.0, echoes what we’ve held in our archives since their first drops. These are pieces that reshaped the footwear landscape with brutalist forms and futuristic function, walking the line between tech and fashion.
Perhaps most thrilling for us is seeing styles from Demna’s first show for Balenciaga being re-contextualised in the exhibit. We’ve preserved several of these early pieces, not as nostalgic tokens, but as markers of a creative revolution that continues to ripple across the industry.
Balenciaga’s retrospective proves what we've believed all along: Demna's work is not just about hype, but history. At Zoo Fashions, we’re proud to offer a living, wearable archive of that history and one that reflects both the reverence and rebellion of Demna’s Balenciaga.
Whether you’re discovering these pieces anew or revisiting them with fresh eyes, keep your eyes on our socials @zoofashions and sign up to our members list where we will be counting down to the launch of ‘Rare (S)Pieces’. Early Access to the limited edition and one off Balenciaga grails will be exclusively to those signed up and it is highly likely items will sell out during the early access period.
