Armour as contemporary costume
Balenciaga Haute Couture
This dress from the Balenciaga Haute Couture Autumn/Winter 2023–2024 collection is a contemporary interpretation of early 16th-century Maximilian armour, transforming it into a work of haute couture that protects and allows the wearer to manifest or change their identity. Demna Gvasalia, the former creative director of the fashion house responsible for this collection, shows that fashion can serve as armour – both symbolically and visually. As he himself emphasises: ‘Making clothes is my armour.’
The dress recreates the shape of Renaissance armour: stiff, metallic, shiny folds and shapes are reminiscent of metal grooving, emphasising the waist and shaping the silhouette like armour perfectly fitted to the body. This contributes to an effect of distance – the body becomes almost statuesque, mechanical, yet retains its presence and sensitivity. In parallel to ancient armour, the garment gives the body a new structure, strength, and at the same time reveals its fragility, which the shiny surface of the dress does not hide but rather exposes.
Technique – the armour of contemporary fashion
The dress was made using contemporary technologies: a computer-aided design (CAD) was created and used as the basis for 3D printing, while galvanised resin, polishing and chrome plating give the surface a metallic sheen. The interior is finished with black flock, ensuring comfort and complete freedom of movement for the model. This combination of traditional haute couture craftsmanship, digital precision, and technology is the contemporary equivalent of perfectly crafted Renaissance armour – in every detail, the material, shape and detail serve aesthetics, but also symbolise power and protection.
Armour as allegory
The history of European armour shows that from the 15th to the 17th century, protective items were also works of art. Armour not only protected the body, but also communicated status, emphasised strength, and displayed elegance. In the same way, Balenciaga’s design becomes the costume of the modern warrior. The shiny, metallic surfaces, structure, and architecture of the form refer to the same logic: the outer shell protects, emphasises shape and symbolises power, giving the body a new identity.
Just as Renaissance armour was a set of movable elements adapted to the anatomy of its owner, the armour dress from the Balenciaga fashion house balances between hardness and flexibility. The metallic fragments create the illusion of heaviness, while the construction remains functional, allowing for movement. It is a contemporary adaptation of the old concept of clothing as armour, which both protects and empowers, allowing the female body to occupy space in a world full of symbolic and real challenges.
Fashion in dialogue with history and museum space
The presentation of the dress in the Armoury of the Royal Castle is an artistic intervention in which contemporary fashion meets the historical context of royal armour. Visitors can see the analogy between the protective function of armour and the symbolic power of contemporary clothing – costume has always been a tool of communication, a manifestation of power and artistic expression. The dress presented in this special place is not only part of a haute couture show, but also a work of art that engages in a dialogue with the past, the history of craftsmanship, and the idea of power enchanted in steel surfaces.
Fashion as art, the past as inspiration
The armour-dress is proof that fashion can be art not only in the sense of aesthetics, but also in terms of interpretation and historical narrative. Taking the form of a haute couture dress, the armour becomes a medium in which technique, craftsmanship, history, and symbolism intertwine. Contemporary clothing, like Renaissance armour, shapes the body, protects it, and at the same time defines its presence in the world. Balenciaga’s dress is therefore not only present on the catwalk or in the street – it also has its place in the museum, provoking reflection on what protection, power, and expression mean in different eras.
Dr Bogumiła Wiśniewska
Balenciaga Couture
52nd Collection Couture
Haute Couture
Autumn/Winter 2023–2024
Armour Dress in 3D-Printed Chromed Resin
Look 59 of 59