There’s been a lot of changes and moves in the industry over the past year: many empty spots and a dozen potential designers that can fill them. But, women and POC designers are not really being thrown in the mix of predictions. Up until Demna’s departure from Balenci last week. “Someone give Martine Rose a creative director role fr,” @mustbemargiela commented on TikTok. “Please, Martine Rose at Balenciaga,” @fashionroadman posted on Threads.
Martine Rose’s name keeps dropping in the conversation and for good reason. The British designer has been the blueprint of Balenciaga’s cult aesthetic. She has been a huge inspiration to Demna as a designer – you can spot Martine Rose references in his early days at Vetements. When Demna joined Balenciaga as CD in 2015, he took her on as a menswear consultant. Up til Demna became CD, the menswear at Balenciaga was more of an afterthought to the womenswear – he wanted to bring in a solid menswear designer who could help build the narrative. And the most successful menswear collections have been under Martine.
The Balenci aesthetic that we know today is very Martine-coded: the bulky shoulders, the oversized denim, the sportswear. User @thicc_flair_drip commented on a Balenciaga Reddit thread: “People don’t realise how much influence she had in the menswear department. She’s an industry veteran who has been mostly under the radar her whole career and has a lot of overlapping ideas and similar vernacular as Demna.”
Martine Rose is your favourite designer’s favourite designer fr. She started her brand in 2007, and her work was heavily influenced by ‘90s rave culture, Britain and her Jamaican heritage. She often taps into politics (her Bernie Sanders logo at Balenciaga went hard), and often involves local communities in her collections, like shooting female football players for her Nike collab and inviting local residents to see her shows. Her sportswear, ravey aesthetic is very much loved in the industry.
And the culture wants Martine full-time at Balenciaga. We did an IG poll earlier this week, and 80% of the Culted community said they want to see her as CD. Her legacy and craft would be exceptional at the Parisian house, not steering too far away from the aesthetic that Demna built at Balenciaga, but also bringing in new groundbreaking ideas.
However, there are barely any people of colour in a CD chair at a major fashion house, atm it’s only Maximilian Davis at Ferragamo and Pharell at LV, and there’s barely any women: last month, 1Granary reported that women make up 74% of fashion courses, but only 12% of creative directors. Even Donatella Versace – one of the few female CDs in the industry – just got replaced by a white man. So, it’s no surprise that there’s never been a woman of colour to hold a CD position at a major fashion house. And, although Martine Rose at Balenciaga would go crazy, it’s sad to admit that the odds aren’t exactly in her favour.
Featured image via Getty Images
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