VETEMENTS & the Story of Demna

“In fashion now, you need to take risks to survive.” Demna Gvasalia. And take risks he certainly did.

The man responsible for one half of VETEMENTS and the creative direction for the house of Balenciaga is none other than Georgian designer, Demna Gasalia.

You may (not properly) recognise Gvasalia as the totally covered silhouette of a man accompanying Kim Kardashian West to this year’s Met Gala Red Carpet. Not only was he her date, but was the brains behind her controversial, divisive, and totally disguising look of head-to-toe black covering.

While heading up creative for Balenciaga has certainly put him at the forefront of the fashion industry’s hot designer list, Gvasalia has been disrupting the fashion industry since 2014. Bored of what every other brand was producing, Demna joined his brother and created anti-fashion high-end label; VETEMENTS.

Translating to ‘clothes’ in French, the unlike-anything-else brand is based out of Zurich Switzerland, and often plays on its Frenchy origins with witty bits of text or flags plastered over the clothing. Not unlike Off-White, VETEMENTS built its cult following off the use of clever brand borrowing and playing on its audience’s love of nostalgia. The very first collection featured the DHL brand mark and colours and propelled the brand to stardom almost instantly.

The offering of both men and women’s RTW, shoes and accessories should not only be considered as unisex and androgynous, but as a statement against the predictability and traditionalism of cyclical fashion trends. Kind of anti-fashion but a bit cooler and lot more wearable.

Donned by the rich, famous, misunderstood and utterly cool, VETEMENTS can be found in the closets of rappers, Kardashians and even Celine Dion. Harness the weird and the wonderful and wear VETEMENTS.