Balenciaga’s Spring/Summer 2018 menswear collection saw Demna Gvasalia pay tribute to fatherhood while continuing his dissection of the “corporate man” archetype introduced in AW17. “This is the same man, on casual Friday and the weekend,” Gvasalia explained, describing a back-to-basics shift that took his fictional office character into off-duty comfort, family man mode.
To visualize this, Gvasalia casted real fathers walking alongside their own children, turning the runway into a suburban park scene. Models donned exaggerated “dad” silhouettes. Clothing that was intentionally gaudy, oversized, and awkward in the most deliberate way. Garments looked lived-in, beat-up, and pulled from the back of a storage closet, yet they were recast with a fashion-forward twist that questioned what high fashion could be.
This deliberate embrace of the mundane sparked what many dubbed the “dadcore” wave. Suddenly, the uncool was cool again. Designers and streetwear kids alike began raiding their dad’s closets for chunky orthopedic sneakers, rugby shirts, oversized polos, slouchy flannels, and khakis with pockets. The line between ironic normcore and authentic dressing blurred, making room for a new kind of fashion nostalgia.
This prewashed denim vest embodies Gvasalia’s ongoing study. Cut in a boxy, comfort-first silhouette, it features raw, unfinished armholes and a bold, quasi-tourist “EUROPE” logo screen-printed across the chest. The cracked and worn lettering feels like a souvenir from a forgotten summer holiday, echoing Gvasalia’s tongue-in-cheek use of generic motifs. With its sun-faded wash and ragged edges, the vest looks like it’s seen a few too many barbecues, and that’s exactly the point.
