“Couture to me is specifically about clothes,” said Demna backstage after the show, as reported by Vogue Runway’s Sarah Mower. “There was a narrative that somehow happened by itself. It was kind of making a bridge between the past and now, which is the reason I wanted to do it from the beginning.” Slavik is the clear bridge between the past and present here, offering not only a living embodiment (and a valuable treasure trove of memories) of Mr. Balenciaga’s hand as a couturier to the house’s current team, but also a touching connection between the past and the present of the label to those of us looking in from the outside.
But breathing life into a design from over 50 years ago is no easy feat. “It was very complex,” says Peter Copping, the former Nina Ricci and Oscar de la Renta designer who is now head of special projects and VIP dressing at Balenciaga, in a new video about the look released here exclusively. “We had archival photographs from our own archive, but that was the only reference we had,” said the designer, explaining that, since the house did not have archival patterns from this specific gown, they had to rely on Slavik’s recollections of the piece.
The black viscose velvet gown, which Slavik said is her favorite dress from her modeling career (which also includes credits like Chanel and Hubert de Givenchy), was first worn by the model when Mr. Balenciaga himself created it for the first time. It was then ordered by none other than Grace Kelly to wear at The Scorpion Ball in 1969, her horoscope-themed 40th birthday party. She wore it sans the double string of pearls that figure on the original and recreation.