Demna de Balenciaga on fame, fearlessness and new talent

TRIESTE, Italy — Trieste is a city on the northeastern border of Italy, outside fashion for almost the whole year, but it holds a special place in Demna's heart.

It was Balenciaga's creative director's homecoming on Saturday as he arrived in town to be part of the panel jury for the 2022 edition of the International Talent Support competition, known as ITS. In 2004, he was one of the fashion talents applying for the contest and he won the ITS Collection of the Year award.

"I think that was probably the first time in my life that I really, suddenly started to have confidence in myself and I felt a kind of recognition even though I was very young and just started,” Demna told WWD before the event.

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"The most important thing for me in Trieste was that confidence that I started to learn, and that I felt today when I came here, I remembered that the other Demna who came before was very scared of everything,” he said.

Demna won first prize in the 2004 International Talent Support competition. WWD Staff

As his confidence and platform grew, his goal to engage in broader dissertations on cultural, social and political themes. They include representation and inclusiveness, sustainability, communication tools and promotion. To pretend that fashion is only about clothes is "a very hypocritical and almost outdated way of thinking," he said.

“I would say above all that the luxury fashion industry is a huge cultural platform, what brands have on their social media, the money that goes into events and shows and promotion, it's almost like it has more impact than the movie industry, the music industry music,” he said. “Fashion has a huge body to be a platform not just to make clothes and make money and create the dream, the lifestyle, it has an obligation… to be vocal. It is a voice,” he added.

His seminal desire to also create desirable fashion has remained intact, and he somewhat smacks of young talent reach out to trade it for a personal story, storytelling, or even fame.

"I think somehow the romanticism of fashion is is lost in these [younger] generations… Romanticism is [about] creating a vision and something different and not being like this or that because it works, but just being who you are, fighting for it with perseverance, proving that this is what you believe in. It's very hard to do that when you're 20 and I want to get a job,” he offered.

"I didn't want to tell my story or be famous on Instagram, I...