Balenciaga’s New Book Is Unlike Anything You’ve Seen Before

By now it’s obvious: At Balenciaga, Demna Gvasalia dictates his own path. In no collection was this more obvious than autumn/winter 2018, where Gvasalia broke with visible references and injected more of his own obsessions into the collection. Models walked beside a graffitied monolith, evoking a cross between a snowboarding bowl and a skate park, clad in layer upon layer of jackets (that were in fact formed out of one piece of material) and 3D moulded blazers of razor precision.

Now, Gvasalia’s autumn/winter 2018 collection is being immortalised in a new book form Rizzoli. At first glance, the 304-page tome might seem like familiar fashion fare: Backstage images alongside fittings and show prep, shot in a candid snapshot style by Johnny Dufort and Pierre-Ange Carlotti. What sets Balenciaga’s new book apart is not just it’s exclusivity – Dufort and Carlotti were the only guests allowed in the showroom and backstage to see the making of the collection – but the experimental process with which the book was made. Unlike standard photo books, this one is printed using two rarely used neon inks, in addition to CMYK colours. The result is a book that glows, whose images of World Food Programme shirts and puppy-print bags leap off the bag.

With its psychedelic bent, this book is a real trip – and that’s exactly how Gvasalia intended it. In a release, the brand explains that the book is designed to stand as a document and testament to the clothes themselves, embodying the motifs of the collection in a way that a video never could. “A show is an experience and this book is a tool for remembering it,” said Gvasalia in the release. “With this show in particular, even backstage looked like a story... I realised that every show I do from now on for Balenciaga is cinematographic in terms of concept and setup, and each of them I’d like to accompany with some memorabilia, something that actually puts you into that show and the process behind it.”

Balenciaga’s autumn/winter 2018 book will go on sale on November 7 on Balenciaga.com and in Balenciaga stores worldwide. You’ll want to see this one IRL – those neon inks are so bright, they cannot be replicated on screens.