Kylie Jenner weighs in on Balenciaga amid backlash over book in ad – latest

Balenciaga has followed up on its promise to take legal action regarding its Spring 2023 campaign, with the brand filing a lawsuit against production company North Six Inc – and its agent, Nicholas Des Jardins.

In the complaint, the luxury fashion house accuses the defendants of engaging in “inexplicable acts and omissions” that were “malevolent or, at the very least, extraordinarily reckless”.

Balenciaga is seeking $25m in monetary damages.

As for photographer Gabriele Galimberti’s role in creating the Balenciaga campaign featuring children posing with plush bears, Balenciaga said it was taking the blame.

“This was a wrong choice by Balenciaga, combined with our failure in assessing and validating images,” the company wrote. “The responsibility for this lies with Balenciaga alone.”

The clarification comes after Balenciaga apologised for the campaign last week. “We sincerely apologise for any offense our holiday campaign may have caused,” the statement said “Our plush bear bags should not have been featured with children in this campaign. We have immediately removed the campaign from all platforms.”

Following the statement, the National Geographic photographer issued a statement of his own, in which he said he was “not entitled in whatsoever manner to neither chose [sic] the products, nor the models, nor the combination of the same”.

You can read Galimberti’s statement in full below.

As of now, the photographers behind Balenciaga’s Spring 2023 campaign have yet to comment on the backlash.

The photoshoot, which starred Bella Hadid, Nicole Kidman and Isabelle Huppert, was shot by Joshua Bright, while photographer Chris Maggio captured the still-life images of accessories, according to WWD.

The campaign sparked backlash over the inclusion of court documents relating to a Supreme Court decision on child pornography, and for featuring a book by a Belgian artist whose earlier work included depictions of castrated children.

Jenner’s response comes as many fans have called on celebrities to publicly denounce the brand, while some have suggested that Kim Kardashian should have cut ties with the company over the scandal.

Candace Owens was among those criticising the Skims founder’s response as not being strong enough, with the conservative commentator claiming the reality star should have decided she was “done with Balenciaga”.

Kylie Jenner has shut down a TikToker’s claim that she posted family photos to distract from the Balenciaga scandal after the Kylie Cosmetics star shared never-before-seen pictures of her and Travis Scott’s nine-month-old son.

Jenner denied the accusation in a TikTok comment, writing: “Uh whyyy would I post my child to cover up for Balenciaga?This is why I don’t do this. Always something to say.”

In a statement released on Monday, Balenciaga said it “takes responsibility” for the “series of grievous errors” that led to the two campaigns being published and said the coompany would be “closely revising our organisation and collective ways of working” in light of the fallout.

While celebrities and notable figures have spoken out against Balenciaga in light of the controverisal campaigns, not everyone who works with the brand has denounced the luxury designer.

Nicole Kidman, who features in the brand’s Spring 2023 campaign, has remained silent amid the backlash, prompting fans to call on her to denounce Balenciaga.

You can read more about the reactions below.

Galimberti, who has 20 years of experience as a documentary photographer, is also afraid of the impact the backlash will have on his career, as he estimates that he’s already lost $10,000 in wages since the Balenciaga controversy, according to WWD.

The Balenciaga shoot marked his first assignment in the fashion industry.

In the same interview with WWD, the Milan-based National Geographic photographer said he has been blamed for the controversy, and that he has been inundated with messages from people furious over his involvement.

According to Galimberti, who said he is concerned about his personal safety, “90 per cent” of the messages have come from individuals in the US. “Luckily, I live in Italy and not in the States,” he said, adding that he has received messages referring to him as a “sick pervert”.

While Galimberti shot the Gift Collection campaign featuring children posing with Balenciaga bears dressed in BDSM-inspired accessories, he was not invovled with the Spring 2023 campaign, which was shot by Joshua Bright, while the accessory images for the campaign were photographed by Chris Maggio.

Photographer Gabriele Galimberti, who shot the Gift Collection campaign featuring children posing with plush toy bears, has also criticised the brand, as he claims that Balenciaga waited too long to clarify that the campaign was separate from the one which had included Supreme Court documents pertaining to child pornography.

“It was two different campaigns, two different photographers. The Supreme Court documents were not in the campaign with the children,” Galimberti said in an interview with WWD on Monday.