Why Did Balenciaga Wipe Out Its Social Media Presence?

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Balenciaga has made a bold statement by deleting all of its social media posts ahead of its first haute couture show in 53 years.

The Balenciaga Instagram profile, followed by 11,6 million people, was wiped of virtually all its content last week. The bold move currently has no official explanation with no statements from the Spanish fashion label, but the only content left on the profile offers a clue.

At the time of writing, there are two Stories on the account – both of which point to the upcoming – and highly anticipated – July 7 haute couture show.

The brand is about to host its 50th couture collection – the first since its founder Cristóbal Balenciaga shut the doors to his atelier in 1968. The decision to wipe its social media presence clean could also have to do with the way Balenciaga’s current creative director, Demna Gvasalia, perceives the role, impact, and importance of social media today.

In an interview with British Vogue early last month, the Georgian fashion designer – and head of the brand – stated: “I think social media is boring, and dangerously addictive for some, as well as super manipulative… We need to find new ways of using it that are less harmful to society.”

The move comes three months after Bottega Veneta, the hottest fashion house on Instagram in the past couple of years, cut all its ties with social media to replace social posting with a quarterly online magazine.

[Tweet “Balenciaga has made a bold statement by deleting all of its social media posts ahead of its first haute couture show in over 50 years.”

British designer Daniel Lee – and creative director of the Italian luxury fashion house – explained the move, describing social media as the representation of the homogenization of culture: “Everyone sees the same stream of content. A huge amount of thought goes into what I do, and social media oversimplifies it.”

Balenciaga’s official Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook pages are currently blacked out and have had all posts deleted.