V643-PARIS DESFILE BALENCIAGA

Designer Demna bade farewell to Balenciaga on Wednesday (July 9), which he led as creative director for the last decade.

Kim Kardashian, Naomi Campbell and Isabelle Huppert walked the runway, along with other models who had collaborated with Demna in the past, many of them not looking like traditional runway walkers.

Kardashian's look was Demna's "ode to Elizabeth Taylor," he wrote in show notes. She wore a mink coat made of embroidered feathers over a silk slip, and Taylor's diamond pendant earrings, which now belong to a private collection.

Devoid of music except for the very end, the show’s soundtrack was a recording of the models and people from Demna's teams saying their names.

The collection, presented salon-style at the Balenciaga couture shop in Paris, celebrated silhouettes which Demna had popularised over the years - jackets with boxy shoulders, exaggerated hourglass dresses, tops with high collars with "Medici or Nosferatu-esque necklines."

"Garments are sculptural and intricate in their construction, while embracing minimalism and reduction in their architecture," Demna wrote.

A 1957 floral motif was applied to a sequined skirtsuit and matching handbag - which the Georgian designer said evoked his grandma's kitchen tablecloth.

Male models - with different body types - sported "unstructured" suits created by four family-run ateliers in Naples.

The final look - worn by artist and a longtime muse of Demna, Eliza Douglas - was a Guipure lace gown that the designer described as the "ultimate minimal sculptural gown that represents everything this House stands for".

Praised for his streetstyle-inspired looks and attention-grabbing showmanship at Balenciaga, the 44-year-old Demna, will be taking over the reins at Gucci, also part of the Kering group, in September.

He will be tasked with redefining Gucci's artistic direction and reinvigorating shoppers and retail buyers in Europe, the United States and China, which has been a struggle for the label since Alessandro Michele's departure in 2022.

Haute Couture week ended on Thursday (July 10), after shows from brands like Chanel, Schiaparelli and Giorgio Armani Prive.