3oud.com Sits Down with Cédric Charbit, Balenciaga’s CEO

By Rasha AlSabah

Balenciaga’s place in the fashion industry has been cemented since Cristóbal Balenciaga’s days at the fashion house. Over the years, Balenciaga has been known to push the boundaries and have people divided over their distinctive styles.

In 2015, Demna was named creative director of the brand and catapulted Balenciaga into one of the most successful brands, especially when it comes to innovative and eccentric designs. His designs became very popular among the fashion luxury scene.

Cédric Charbit was appointed Chief Executive Officer in 2016.

In November of 2022, Balenciaga published their Holiday campaign and received backlash right away. People were boycotting and attacking the brand.

Days after the campaign went viral, Balenciaga apologized on social media, “We sincerely apologize for any offense our holiday campaign may have caused. Our plush bear bags should not have been featured with children in this campaign. We have immediately removed the campaign from all platforms.” Furthermore, Balenciaga issued another lengthy statement that stated their action plan moving forward, signed by Cédric Charbit.

Demna posted a personal apology as well that reiterated where he stood on the matter and vowing the campaign had no ill-intent. On February 8, Balenciaga and the Kering Foundation announced a multi-year partnership with National Children’s Alliance.

3oud.com sat down with Cédric Charbit, CEO of Balenciaga to discuss creativity, fashion, the future of the brand in the Middle East, and what went wrong in the 2022 Holiday Campaign.

1. How has it been working with Balenciaga, and how does your role shape the future of the brand? How are you thinking, wanting, and wishing to take Balenciaga forward?

When I joined Balenciaga in 2016, I discovered that the House's Century-old heritage was way more than elevated beauty and elegance; it involved ground-breaking innovation that gave it a unique place in fashion. Cristóbal was a radical disrupter who reinvented couture and changed how people dressed. He was considered as the master of all couturiers; his designs were considered daring and extreme but always balanced between beauty and challenging the boundaries of what was considered beautiful.

This vision and his legacy have been very inspiring for me as a CEO, putting creativity at the centre and embracing a modern take on elegance. Balenciaga has always been a reference

and a dream to me. The House meant a lot, I remember using Cristóbal’s vision and Balenciaga’s marks as examples of the most iconic and bold statements, both from a fashion and craftsmanship standpoint. When you enter Balenciaga, you enter Couture History.

Creativity has always driven the House and still does today with Demna as creative director and a force that has turned Balenciaga into a Couture powerhouse. I shape the brand from a business point of view, and Demna has the creative lead and vision. We work as a duo, my vision in sync with his. Our duty is to respect, protect and bring forward the House’s heritage and make it relevant today. One of the best ways to illustrate this was in 2021 when we decided to relaunch Couture in the original couture salons of Cristóbal Balenciaga at 10 Avenue George V. The salons were restored to reflect their interiors from when the House’s founder worked and showed his collections from 1937 to 1968. This began the process of relocating the brand back to its Parisian birthplace, marking the 50th Couture collection for the House and Demna’s first. It was a way to say where we are coming from as a brand, who we are and to make sure that Demna’s vision was given the opportunity to go to the next level, the highest part of the pyramid of design. The part where you can express yourself with the highest craft, the highest creativity and from a new angle. I believe in long-term business decisions, and it was our duty to bring this back to Balenciaga.

To bring this legacy forward, I built a team of the industry's most exciting leaders from around the world. The idea was to propose a new way for people to think about fashion and dress. At Balenciaga, anything is possible, and we are set to redefine luxury. I believe in being innovative and that there is room to learn everywhere. Respect and knowledge of the world's different cultures are vital to having your own opinions and values.

Moving forward, I want Balenciaga to be the Couture powerhouse it deserves to be, and I am a firm believer that our potential is immense from Couture to the most elevated daywear.

Nicole Kidman and Cédric Charbit at Balenciaga’s Fall 2024 show in Los Angeles.

2. Tell us about Balenciaga in the Middle East, how important is the Middle East market to Balenciaga? Why? And how do you see it growing?

Our Middle Eastern clients have always been passionate about the brand. Our Kuwaiti clients, in particular, are sophisticated and fashion-forward. They appreciate our respectful yet daring, creative and unexpected styles and value both our original and timeless designs - something that makes Balenciaga totally unique and extremely sought after by Kuwaitis, both in Kuwait and around the world. Interestingly, it was one of the first regions to pick up on the brand in the early days, and we have grown consistently over the years to meet this growing demand. We started many years ago with shops in department stores, then we opened stand-alone stores, and eventually flagship stores which we now operate directly. In Kuwait, we now have three stores across the country. We also have stores in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha and most recently, Jeddah and Riyadh. We have worked with the best partners in the region who have supported us on this journey, and we have grown our team, hiring the best talent in the market. We have such great relationships with our clients in the Middle East, and it's authentic.

Another specificity about the Middle East is that clients are very loyal and we’re honoured to have such great, authentic relationships with our clients! Some of our clients became friends of the House; their love for our Maison is precious and we have built memorable moments celebrating the brand together.

3. In your opinion, what went wrong with the 2022 controversial campaign?

It was an error of judgment and certainly not a deliberate intent to shock. The campaign suffered from oversight at multiple levels. The issue extended beyond mere negligence, as it went through various departments, including creative, communication, regional and retail teams. Despite our agreement to use fake documents to recreate an office environment, some real ones were used. The controversy stemmed from seemingly innocuous elements like the teddy bear in the pictures. Ultimately, it was a failure in oversight across different teams, an error of judgment, and for that, we took full responsibility and apologized. And we apologize here again.

4. Throughout the years, whenever a brand receives backlash resulting from a scandal, they resort to letting go of the creative team, especially the creative director. Why wasn’t a change made at Balenciaga?

Me as a CEO and we as a group take full responsibility and won’t blame it on one person. It would go against our foundations to put this solely on one individual when we always work as a team. Demna himself posted a personal apology that reiterated where he stood on the matter, vowing the campaign had no ill-intent. As the Creative Director, Demna is committed to serving the brand and making significant contributions that continue to redefine the concepts of luxury and beauty.

5. What’s your plan moving forward with Balenciaga?

We have worked tirelessly to set internal and external measures and review processes for all creative campaign approvals. We now work with new specialized agencies across all markets to review and assess our content, allowing us to incorporate different perspectives. Beyond marketing campaigns, we are also spending our time and focus on our upcoming collections and looking forward to sharing these with our community of fashion and design enthusiasts worldwide. At Balenciaga we are committed to do the right things.

Kate Moss in Balenciaga’s Le City Bag campaign.

6. What’s in the pipeline for our region?

We have just opened our largest store in Dubai. I am here to celebrate the brand and our relationship with our Middle Eastern audience.

The 600 sqm store is our largest store in the EMEA region. It presents a complete offer of all men and women categories and a large selection of special pieces.

In the last few months, we have opened a total of three new stores in the Middle East, including stores in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in Jeddah and Riyadh and our biggest store

in the Middle East in Dubai. These openings reflect the strong demand for the brand in the region and the appetite for our creative and distinctive approach to luxury. We are not stopping here – later this year, we will open one more store in Riyadh, our largest in the Kingdom.

To celebrate the opening of this store, we have also just presented for the first time in the Middle East, our Couture collection which was extremely well received by our most loyal customers. Our Couture collection is the ultimate demonstration of craftsmanship and quality. It draws from the heritage of our founder Cristóbal Balenciaga, who was considered the ultimate couturier.

7. Talk us through the brand’s Summer 24 collection that hit the runway earlier in October.

What was the main inspiration behind this collection and the show itself?

The Summer 24 collection is Demna's most personal and authentic collection.

It's a tribute to crafting the garment and to personal expression. The collection and show were about the long-term establishment of his creative vision. The way he redefined luxury and set a new agenda in fashion.

The show had a lot of archival references (see pic) and Demna’s take on our icons.

Balenciaga’s 52nd Couture Collection, look 3 featuring Vittoria Ceretti

It was also the first time we could introduce our new Rodeo bag (see pic) that is an instant classic, sold out everywhere.

Rodeo bag

8. There have been discussions around Balenciaga’s focus on strengthening the ties to the legacy of founder Cristóbal Balenciaga. With this said, what can we expect to see over the coming seasons from the House?

The ties with our legacy are extremely important to us. We value our heritage and take all opportunities to celebrate it. Most recently at the Oscar, we dressed Carey Mulligan in a stunning replica of our 1951 Flamenco dress from Cristóbal Balenciaga.

I believe in creativity and freedom. We have to think long-term and know how to behave with a long-term vision, especially for us, with more than 100 years of history. We need to think about actions that will propel us into the future always remembering where we are coming from; I’m particularly excited to see the “City Bag” making such a comeback. Balenciaga remains the most interesting and different creative proposition, in my view. We are simply moving forward from hype to timelessness, knowing where we are going and where we are coming from.