BALENCIAGA'S "SKATEWEAR" CERTAINLY ISN'T VERY GNARLY

For better or worse, it looks like Balenciaga is back. Following a brief hiatus after last year’s child conspiracy ad scandal, the house returned to Paris Fashion Week to present its Fall/Winter 2023 collection.

Now it looks as if the label is getting back into the swing of things good and proper after dropping its new graffiti-covered skate-inspired capsule online earlier this week, the latest release from the brand amidst its quiet return to normality.

To be frank, as someone who has never been able to stand on a skateboard let alone move on one, I might not be the most qualified person to drop this hot take, but: it seems glaringly obvious that for Balenciaga all it takes to make something skater is a drop of graffiti and a sprinkling of fraying.

Well, either that or create something oversized and put "Skater" in the title, like this $4,400 Skater Tuxedo Jacket.

But, as I say, that’s merely an observation from a non-skater boy, so am I to judge?

That being said, I do know that if I were to cop a pair of $1,850 Skater Baggy Sweatpants, a $1,350 tee, or an actual tuxedo, the last thing I’d be doing in them is trying to knock out some gnarly kickflips.

This release appears to be Balenciaga returning to business as usual following its hiatus, after a reset earlier this year.

Since returning to Instagram in January, the Demna Gvasalia-led label has slowly but quietly been ramping things back up, and started dropping mainline products and campaigns.

Even Kim Kardashian — who publicly distanced herself from the label in the heat of the scandal — has jumped back on the Balenciaga hype with a slew of looks from a recent trip to Japan, including a Kill Bill-inspired Uma Thurman look.

Whatever your thoughts on Balenciaga’s controversial return, I think we can all agree that its take on "skatewear" is pretty wide of the mark and, in truth, it’s literally just some hard-wearing get-up that’s been covered in spray paint and ripped a little.