DEMNA'S New DAWN

BALENCIAGA's artistic director REINVENTED FASHION for an UPSIDE-DOWN ERA by CHALLENGING us to perceive the notion of LUXURY-and BEAUTY differently. But what he's after NOW is something much more EMOTIONAL.

- BROOKE BOBB

Demna is smiling. It's early December, and the 42-year-old artistic director of Balenciaga is in Los Angeles on the day before the house's Pre-Fall 2024 presentation, the location of which on a beatific street in L.A.'s glitzy Hancock Park neighborhood, with a dead-center horizon view of the Hollywood Sign-will remain a fiercely guarded secret right up until showtime.

In advance of my interview with the mononymous designer, who dropped his surname a few years ago, I'd decided to stop by Erewhon-the internet-famous celebrity-haunt L.A. grocery store known for its immaculate assortment of organic produce and prepared foods, Sea Moss Gel wellness elixirs, and a Hailey Bieberformulated smoothie. I went, I saw, and I consumed one of Bieber's Strawberry Glaze Skin beverages (which, it turns out, has more calories than a large Starbucks Frappuccino). I also purchased a $52 Erewhon-logo tote bag to bring to my meeting with Demna-as a prop as much as anything, hoping it would grab his attention, as he has proved to be a keen observer of digital trends or ephemera, with a knack for knowing what will go viral.

I carry the tote through the Chateau Marmont, where Demna is holed up, and after a brief wait in the lobby I'm led to his suite, where he is standing with a pair of assistants on the balcony. Demna makes his way over to me dressed the way he almost always is: in baggy patchworked Frankenstein cargos he stitched together himself and a pink hoodie over a distressed tee, with a dark cap that casts a shadow over his face and big Balenciaga 3XL sneakers.