Demna Gvasalia’s work for Balenciaga has attracted about as much notoriety as it has sales. The luxury fashion label has made headlines, and left some scratching their heads, with products such as a $2,145 replica of Ikea’s big, blue, cheap totes, and a $1,290 “t-shirt shirt” that’s basically a full button-up shirt attached to the front of a t-shirt. It introduced a $895, hulking behemoth of a sneaker, the Triple S, which has since been credited with helping kickstart a trend of chunky, “ugly” athletic shoes. Gvasalia’s thought process hasn’t always been clear to those on the outside, but in a lengthy interview with WWD, the artistic director explained the intent of some of his controversial and coveted designs, including that pricey Ikea bag and the Triple S. To understand his thinking, it helps to start with Marcel Duchamp. Read more at Quartz.
