Want more? Balenciaga will give you more

“My early fashion memories begin with drawing looks on cardboard, cutting them out, and doing ‘fashion shows’ on my grandmother’s kitchen table,” Demna wrote in a handwritten note on yellow-lined paper that was blown up before the show. Like many designers, Balenciaga’s artistic director misses those days, adding that “thirty-five years later, this show reconnects me to the beginnings of my vision. It’s a tribute to fashion that has its own point of view.”

To the tune of a manic remix of Britney Spears’ “Gimme More,” he sent models down the runway, first in retro underwear that didn’t match top-handle bags. The styles gradually evolved to include more coverage: sheer beaded pieces over underwear, bras worn with pantaboats, and sweaters or coats slung over garters. Then the offerings became more and more primitive: black turtleneck dresses and white, cream and red dresses with ribbons.

Demna and sweatshirts are Demny’s standby, and he experimented with both, turning jeans into leggings and showing off oversized sweatshirts with aggressively simplified slogans: “Fashion Designer” or “The Man.” Also on board were several soon-to-be-fashionable accessories: futuristic wraparound sunglasses and foam basketball sneakers.

As the show went on, clothes piled up layer by layer at a slow pace, and hats were pulled low in incognito celebrity style. (Certainly some front-row residents, including Katy Perry, Lindsay Lohan and Ashley Graham, could relate.) Combined with the soundtrack, it seemed like a commentary on overconsumption. To continue with the point: models wore designer labels, almost as if they were products. Demna seemed to show that just as he could strip things down to their essentials, he could build them anew.

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