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Kylie Jenner denies deflecting from Balenciaga ad scandal – latest

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Balenciaga under fire over ‘creepy’ ads of kids with ‘bondage outfits’

The backlash surrounding Balenciaga’s recent ad campaigns involving children has remained strong as fans and celebrities continue to denounce the luxury brand.

The Spanish fashion house recently found itself embroiled in controversy over two recent ad campaigns. The first campaign, the designer’s gift collection campaign, was criticised for using children to model its teddy bear purses, after critics pointed out the bears appeared to be wearing BDSM and bondage-inspired accessories.

The second ad under scrutiny is Balenciaga’s Spring 2023 campaign, which featured a printout of a Supreme Court decision on child pornography and a book about Beligan artist Michaël Borremans, whose earlier work included depictions of castrated children.

In an attempt to address the fallout, Balenciaga has issued two statements regarding the since-removed campaigns. In the most recent, released on Monday, the brand said it “strongly condemned” child abuse while alleging it was never its intent to “include it in our narrative”.

Balenciaga also filed a lawsuit against the production company behind the Spring 2023 shoot.

The statements and legal complaint have done little to quell the intense reactions from the public over the ads, with many calling for a boycott of the luxury brand, while celebrities such as Kim Kardashian and Nicole Kidman have been called on to cut ties with Balenciaga.

Kardashian, a longtime ambassador of the brand, ultimately announced in a statement shared to social media that she would be “re-evaluating” her relationship with Balenciaga moving forward, while her sister Kylie Jenner appeared to distance herself from the brand when she dismissed speculation that she and her famous family were “covering up” for Balenciaga with “calculated” social media posts.

For all the latest updates regarding the ongoing Balenciaga scandal, follow along below.

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Additionally, Balenciaga said it would be working with organisations that specialise in child protection moving forward.

“We want to learn from our mistakes and identify ways we can contribute,” the company continued, before issuing another apology for “the offense we have caused”.

Chelsea Ritschel1 December 2022 03:30

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As Balenciaga attempts to make its way out of the controversy, the brand said it would be making a number of changes to the way it operates.

According to the luxury fashion house, one of the changes will be “closely revising” its organisation and “collective ways of working,” while another will include “reinforcing the structures around our creative processes and validation steps”.

“We want to ensure that new controls mark a pivot and will prevent this from happening again,” the statement added.

Chelsea Ritschel1 December 2022 02:30

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While the backlash over the campaign is recent, the Spring 2023 shoot was actually shot in July.

Photographer Joshua Bright captured the portrait images for the campaign, which meant he was tasked with photographing stars such as Nicole Kidman and Bella Hadid.

Chris Maggio captured the still-life images of accessories for the campaign, according to WWD, which notes that it was a photo of a Balenciaga/Adidas purse that included the Supreme Court documents pertaining to child pornography.

Chelsea Ritschel1 December 2022 01:30

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The explanation the set designer’s agent offered for the presence of Supreme Court documents pertaining to child pornography on the set was similar to the one shared by Balenciaga in a statement released on Monday.

In the statement, Balenciaga said the props “turned out to be real legal papers most likely coming from the filming of a television drama”.

Chelsea Ritschel1 December 2022 00:30

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Amid the fallout over the brand’s Spring 2023 campaign, Balenciaga filed a lawsuit against production company North Six Inc, and its agent, Nicholas Des Jardins.

However, according to Des Jardins’s agent, Gabriela Moussaieff, who spoke to The Washington Post, the set designer is “being used as a scapegoat,” as he claimed that Balenciaga employees were present at the shoot in question.

“Everyone from Balenciaga was on the shoot and was present on every shot and worked on the edit of every image in post production,” Moussaieff told The Post, adding that the legal papers featured in the shoot were “were obtained from a prop house that were rental pieces used on film [and] photo shoots”.

Chelsea Ritschel30 November 2022 23:30

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If you need a refresher on all the details about the Balenciaga scandal, you can find everything you need to know below.

Chelsea Ritschel30 November 2022 21:10

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As for how she responded to the scandal, Kardashian said she would be “re-evaluting” her relationship with the brand moving forward.

“As a mother of four, I have been shaken by the disturbing images,” she said in a social media statement. “The safety of children must be held with the highest regard and any attempts to normalise child abuse of any kind should have no place in our society – period.”

You can read Kardashian’s statement in full below.

Chelsea Ritschel30 November 2022 20:13

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Although Kim Kardashian has expressed her disapproval of the campaigns and addressed her ongoing relationship with Balenciaga, fans have continued to call on her to cut ties with the brand.

The pressure increased after Kardashian shared a series of random photos of her home to Instagram this week, with fans alledging the post was an attempt to draw attention away from the Balenciaga scandal, and her role as an ambassador for the brand.

“Fashion gate distraction,” one person wrote in the comments under the post, while another said: “Distraction and aversion at its finest!”

Chelsea Ritschel30 November 2022 19:54

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While Business of Fashion will no longer honour Demna with the award, it noted in its statement that it has asked the “leadership at Balenciaga” to attend Voices to “take responsibility for releasing these images and offer an explanation”.

According to the fashion agency, Balenciaga declined the invitation. “They declined our invitation to speak at this time, but BoF remains open to having this important conversation,” the statement added.

Chelsea Ritschel30 November 2022 18:27

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Amid the ongoing fallout over Balenciaga’s recent campaigns, the Business of Fashion announced it will no longer be honouring the brand’s creative director Demna with its Global Voices award for 2022.

The fashion authority announced that Demna would be the recipient of the award earlier this year, however, it said in a 28 November statement that the honour had been revoked in light of Balenciaga’s controversial campaigns.

“Since its inception BoF VOICES has been a platform for important, honest and sometimes uncomfortable conversations that have helped to address key issues in the fashion industry head on,” the statement read. “At BoF, we hold the safety of children in the highest regard.

“And, like many, we have been seeking the truth about how children appeared with BDSM-inspired products in Balenciaga’s recent campaign imaages, which are wholly inconsistent with our values.

“As a result, we will not be presenting Demna with the Global Voices award this year.”

Chelsea Ritschel30 November 2022 18:16

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