Trash or Treasure
Balenciaga turned garbage into fashion: were we being trolled, or willingly buying in?
Balenciaga RTW Fall 2022. The model is wearing the Balenciaga caution-tape bodysuit from the Fall/Winter 2022 collection. Courtesy of Kuba Dabrowski. Available via Women’s Wear Daily. © All rights belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.
Demna is leaving Balenciaga after nearly a decade of couture chaos. As the designer who turned Crocs into runway staples packs his trash bags (literally) to shake things up at Gucci, the fashion world scrambles to predict what’s next.
Under Demna’s direction, Balenciaga rejected conventional beauty with collections that were intentionally dystopian: full of exaggerated silhouettes, streetwear-meets-couture hybrids, and pieces that looked like they came straight out of a dumpster fire. Aesthetic? Debatable. Expensive? Always.
Two years ago, in an interview with British Vogue, the creative director had the following to say about the brand’s future: “It’s a serious job, you know, to make clothes. It’s not about creating image or buzz or any of those things”. With that in mind, today we’re looking back at what he’s leaving behind.
Balenciaga’s Paris Sneaker in the “Full Destroyed” edition, released for Spring/Summer 2022. Pictured in a worn, high-top silhouette with extreme distressing, torn canvas, frayed edges, to dirty soles. Courtesy of Balenciaga. Available via Vogue. © All rights belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.
Enter the limited-edition Paris Sneakers. Only 100 pairs were released in the “Full Destroyed” edition, which featured a high-top canvas silhouette modeled after a Converse, intentionally wrecked. These sold for $1,850 USD a pair. In an official press release, Balenciaga stated: “These still life portraits, by photographer Leopold Duchemin, suggest that Paris Sneakers are meant to be worn for a lifetime,” while showcasing images that looked like they’d already been worn for three.
Some called the drop a brilliant critique of fast fashion. Others called it a scam. I personally can’t believe anyone would pay four figures for shoes that resemble biohazard waste, yet these sneakers became the poster child for the absurd lengths people will go to flex a brand name, even if the product looks like trash.
Maybe this was all meant to be a test. How far could you push the boundaries of taste before people stopped buying? Spoiler: they didn’t. The more destroyed it looked, the more powerful the flex.
That contradiction runs through much of Demna’s legacy at Balenciaga. He claimed to take clothing seriously, yet time and again delivered pieces that seemed to mock the very idea of fashion, none more blatant than the Trash Bag Pouch.
Display of Balenciaga’s Trash Bag Pouch in-store, photographed in black, blue, and white calfskin leather variations. Released as part of the Fall/Winter 2022 collection, each bag mimics the appearance of a standard garbage sack, complete with drawstring closures. Via IG @myfacewheno_o. Available on Instagram. © All rights belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.
Yes, you read that correctly. It’s a designer handbag made to look like a garbage bag. It debuted as part of Balenciaga’s Fall/Winter 2022 collection and retailed for $1,790 USD. Made from calfskin leather and offered in black, white, blue, or yellow, it featured a glossy, wrinkled texture and a drawstring top that mimicked the unmistakable look of a trash sack.
In an interview with Women’s Wear Daily, Demna said, “I couldn’t miss the opportunity to make the most expensive trash bag in the world.” And he didn’t. The bag went viral instantly, mocked, memed, dissected, and still sold out.
In Demna’s Balenciaga, outrage is part of the business model. The uglier the item, the louder the reaction, and the higher the demand. It was never about whether people liked it, it was about whether they’d pay for it. And they did.
Whether it’s satire or strategy remains unclear. Maybe Demna was holding up a mirror to consumerism all along, or maybe he just realized how easy it is to sell people their own trash back, as long as it has a luxury label slapped on.
Either way, Balenciaga proved something bleak but undeniable: when branding is powerful enough, value becomes irrelevant. The item itself, how it looks, what it’s made of, how absurd or useless it may be, no longer matters. All that counts is the logo, the spectacle, and the price tag.
Balenciaga’s Maxi Pack Chips Bag from the Summer 2025 collection, photographed in its Cheese & Onion variation. Designed to resemble a crinkled potato chip bag, the clutch is made from glossy calfskin leather and features a zipper closure with aged silver hardware. via IG @demnagram. © All rights belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.
It’s hard to ignore the irony: after releasing a luxury trash bag, Balenciaga followed it up with a luxury version of the trash inside it. The chip bag clutch shrinks the concept down: smaller, shinier, even more self-aware. Crafted from glossy calfskin and priced at nearly $2,000, it asks us to believe that material alone justifies turning literal garbage into couture. Is it meant to be camp? Maybe. But more likely, it’s a performance of camp that still relies on exclusivity and expense to mean anything at all.
Originally teased in SS23, the chip bag clutch returned for Summer 2025 in new “flavors” and Balenciaga-branded packaging, proof that when a viral item sells, it doesn’t need a season. It just needs a logo. This bag was showcased by actor Michael Shannon, who paired the accessory with a tuxedo at the 2024 Met Gala, turning it into one of the night’s most talked-about looks. Turns out, the only thing more valuable than a designer logo is the audacity it’s printed on.
Demna’s decade at Balenciaga blurred the line between fashion and farce, pushing the boundaries of what people will wear, and more importantly, what they’ll pay for. Now, as he steps into his new role at Gucci, one question still lingers: Was he critiquing consumerism all along, or just cashing in on it?
