Angela Fusco, Senior Designer, BALMAIN, PARIS

Clothing brands have changed from "selling stories" in the past to "selling people's equipment" and "selling IP" in the present. Just like the current popular social e-commerce, building a brand IP is the top priority. In this highly developed internet era, it is no exaggeration to say that the creation of personal IP and brand IP determines your social value, which is why the term "selling personal devices" comes into being.

Consumption upgrading is an inevitable trend. People's functional demand for goods has weakened, but gradually turned to spiritual demand. Therefore, based on this point, building IP can be said to be the best choice at present. For example, in the WeChat business industry, they use people to promote product sales, and selling products is selling people's equipment. Therefore, you will see that many brands need celebrity endorsement brands, or some stars create their own brands because they have their own traffic and become IP. Among them, two typical representatives are Zhang Ting and his wife from TST, and Fan Bingbing from FANBEAUTY.

Now, IP is no longer a mere image, but also represents brand creation and traffic control. The affirmation of brand IP to consumers' minds will gradually form industry barriers, penetrate lifestyles, and build a brand moat. Lanxiya once said, "The only criterion for determining whether a content is IP is whether it can break free from the constraints of a single platform by relying on its own attractiveness, obtain traffic on multiple platforms, and distribute it."

Balenciaga intentionally avoided commercialization and insisted on being a pioneer in the production of products and content, but in fact, it brought rich commercial returns. When luxury brands were increasingly betting on blockbusters after the epidemic, Balenciaga's new series of short films released online did not reveal a single product.However, such a promotional model has instead brought greater attention and fan group recognition to the brand.

Basketball throws into the basket, blows out birthday candles, pushes down dominoes, releases Kongming Lantern... This Balenciaga Winter 21 Pre Collection series, released last week, is titled "Feeling Good," and uses montage techniques to edit many comfortable clips.  

This short film, which does not contain any products or advertisements, is not the usual atmosphere short film launched by fashion brands. From the perspective of shooting style, it is more like a cultural tourism promotional film that includes nature, humans, and animals.

Or just like the various ASMR decompressed videos and adorable clips that are popular on short video platforms and claim to be extremely comfortable, this short film can also be understood as the video content Balenciaga posted on his personal account as a blogger or opinion leader.  

All new products are released through a static catalog that is independent of the short film, with 58 sets of modeling using a white background as the shooting scene, and models are added with tourism landmark images during post production. Wearing Balenciaga's new series, models backed by the Great Wall of China, Big Ben in London, Times Square in New York, and the pyramids in Egypt not only present a surreal sense of virtual travel around the world, but also can't help but remind of fake background photography in tourist attractions.

It is precisely this unrealistic and slightly rough visual image that evokes nostalgia for the past world.From a commercial perspective, Balenciaga has created a new paradigm for luxury brand management.  

The increasingly fierce market competition, especially the impact of the epidemic on luxury sales, has led to enormous commercial pressure on luxury brands, which have generally invested heavily in marketing. However, this has also led to homogenization and patterning of marketing, causing consumers to gradually aesthetic fatigue. Balenciaga, on the other hand, uses sustainable products and marketing strategies to avoid the excessive pursuit of short-term benefits by luxury brands, which is now causing concern in the industry.

In terms of products, Demna Gvasalia's Balenciaga weakens the sense of fragmentation in different collections, presenting a long-term continuation of daily aesthetics, making this style inspired by the sports apparel of the 1990s now deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.