Balenciaga Spring 2025 Review (Is Good Balenciaga Back?)

The Balenciaga takeover of Shanghai began at the Pudong International Airport where, upon exiting immigration for baggage claim, travelers were greeted by larger-than-life black-and-white photographs of actress Yang Chaoyue sporting a Le City bag, looming over the luggage carousels. It extended to the impossibly chic Regent hotel on the Bund, where room keys came in Balenciaga card sleeves, and on to the fashionable Xintiandi district, where the Nu Xiang Mu Dou restaurant, famed for its xiao long bao or soup dumplings, would host a four-day commemorative collaboration à la the infamous black Erewhon smoothie from six months past: a custom-created Balenciaga steamed vegan xiao long bao, filled with French black truffle. The skins, expertly rolled out by hand and pinched to create 16 perfect pleats, were tinted the same Balenciaga gray as the pyramidal umbrellas shading the tables out front. It’s clear that Demna does not do anything by halves, and the creative director took the occasion of his first runway show in China, which houses more Balenciaga stores than any other nation, to indulge in a creative exercise deeper than chinoiserie. “It’s such an important place for Balenciaga, we have such an important audience of people here,” he said backstage after the show, which had been years in the making. “You know I don’t believe in doing cruise collections and going on the boat or whatever… but what I believe in is bringing what I do, my vision, to people who appreciate it, con