Now the fashion industry went ablaze with Balenciaga’s most recent controversy over teddy bears? Yes. Teddy Bears. Well it started with teddy bears but continued with court documents. Balenciaga released what they called a “holiday gift campaign” on their website. The images released consisted of children standing in the center of different rooms with a series of items surrounding them. Some children were holding the teddy bear in  question and some just had the bears in the rooms as a prop. Now these bears were accessorized with bondage gear. Yes. Bondage Gear. Some were seen wearing a fishnet top, a collar with a lock, ankle a wrist restraints, and a blindfold.

Social Media quickly took notice and bashed the industry loved brand for not only placing the inappropriate items in the same setting as children, but also placing blame by attempting to file a $25 million  lawsuit against the production company hired to execute the campaign. Numbers of people all over TikTok and Twitter stated these actions as the brand promoting child abuse. So instead of making a statement in regards to the controversy, Balenciaga replaced the campaign with a new one of an office setting, which seems fine right?

Wrong. A pile of legal documents from the the United States v. Williams case, a supreme court ruling that upheld a federal law that criminalizes advertising and distributing child pornography made a very small appearance in the campaign underneath a Balenciaga handbag.  This lead consumers to concoct theories of the brand engaging to be in agreeance of child abuse.

Even Kim Kardashian, one of Balenciaga’s biggest influencers and supporters, came out and made a statement thoroughly disagreeing with Balenciaga’s actions. Outraged Influencers on various social media platforms showed their outrage by recording themselves cutting and even burning their Balenciaga purchases.

Balenciaga may have been absent from Paris Couture Fashion Week this past month, for reasons we don’t exactly know. The fashion house has even been pretty silent on social media besides some most recent posts of its Garde-Robe 23 collection in Instagram. This is the house’s first post since December 2022. The brands reappearence raises several questions. Will consumers forget about this series of events? Will Balenciaga address the controversy? and if so, How? and Who will be in attendance?