Axed Balenciaga ad included book by artist who painted castrated children

Fashion brand ‘reiterates its sincere apologies for the offence we have caused and extends its apologies to talents and partners’

Balenciaga has come under fire after a scrapped ad campaign included an image which featured a book by a Belgian artist whose earlier work include depictions of castrated children.

French actress Isabelle Huppert appeared in the campaign that was scheduled for spring 2023 in which she sits in a Manhattan office in front of a pile of books.

One of the books is about Michaël Borremans, who has painted toddlers.

According to the Hong Kong David Zwirner gallery, his paintings in Fire from the Sun depict “toddlers engaged in playful but mysterious acts with sinister overtones and insinuations of violence”.

“Known for his ability to recall classical painting, both through technical mastery and subject matter, Borremans’s depiction of the uncanny, the perhaps secret, the bizarre, often surprises, sometimes disturbs the viewer,” the David Zwirner website states. “In this series of work, children are presented alone or in groups against a studio-like backdrop that negates time and space, while underlining the theatrical atmosphere and artifice that exists throughout Borremans’s recent work. Reminiscent of cherubs in Renaissance paintings, the toddlers appear as allegories of the human condition, their archetypal innocence contrasted with their suggested deviousness.”

According to the New York Post, in the same ad, a $3,000 handbag from Balenciaga and Adidas can be seen next to documents from the 2008 Supreme Court case US v Williams, in which the court ruled that sharing child pornography is illegal and not covered under the First Amendment.

The pictures which included the Borreman book were removed from Balenciaga’s website this week following criticism against a separate ad campaign that showed children next to stuffed animals wearing bondage-style gear, The Post noted.

Balenciaga issued an apology on Monday after coming under fire for both ad campaigns.

“We strongly condemn child abuse; it was never our intent to include it in the narrative,” the company said. “The two separate ad campaigns in question reflect a series of grievous errors for which Balenciaga takes responsibility.”

“The first campaign, the gift collection campaign, featured children with plush bear bags dressed in what some have labelled BDMS-inspired outfits. Our plush bear bags and the gift collection should not have been featured with children,” Balenciaga added.

Concerning the Supreme Court documents, the company said that “all the items included in this shooting were provided by third parties that confirmed in writing that these props were fake office documents”.

“They turned out to be papers most likely coming from the filming of a television drama,” the company added.

Balenciaga said that the “inclusion of these unapproved documents” occurred because of “reckless negligence”.

They have now filed a lawsuit for $25m against the production company North Six and set designer Nicholas Des Jardins and his company of the same name.

Balenciaga said it takes “full accountability” for the “lack of oversight and control of the documents in the background”.

“We are closely revising our organization and collective ways of working,” the company said. “We are reinforcing the structures around our creative processes and validation steps. We want to ensure that new controls mark a pivot and will prevent this from happening again.”

They added that they will work with “organizations who specialize in child protection and aims at ending child abuse and exploitation”.

“We want to learn from our mistakes and identify ways we can contribute,” the company said. “Balenciaga reiterates its sincere apologies for the offence we have caused and extends its apologies to talents and partners.”