A Portrait of a Dystopian Future by Balenciaga
Balenciaga seems to have made the pivot to video with the launch of its own newsroom ‘BLNCG Live’ seen in the designer’s Summer 2020 campaign. The first broadcast (directed by Will Benedict) is a real, almost Lynchian, trip complete with a dark and ambient wordless soundtrack. An ambitious crew of model-turned news anchors with mouths dubbed over like Sims avatars highlights key issues like the upcoming election (and how youth are instrumental in its outcome — ‘RECORD TURNOUT DRIVEN BY YOUNG PEOPLE’ a potentially prescient headline reads) and more broadly, WHERE IS THE WATER GOING?
There’s also the promising notion that traffic jams are gone (‘NO MORE TRAFFIC JAMS!’ an eager headline exclaims) but as a result, PEDESTRIANS ARE BACK, including an animated plastic bag that seems to have resisted being recycled and adopted human living mechanisms as its own, proudly crossing the street alongside model-like civilians dressed in the Spanish designer’s summer collection and sporting the Hello Kitty bag. There’s no explanation for anything but there doesn’t need to be — this is the future that Balenciaga wants. Or maybe just a preview of the end of the world. Either way, take a look at the weirdly brilliant campaign above.
