Demna Gvasalia, co-founder of Vetements and creative director of Balenciaga (as of this year) has recently launched a new line called VTMNTS with his brother Guram, a new quality-focused brand that is aimed at a young audience. 

Gvasalia began his position at Balenciaga in October of 2015, and has pushed the brand farther into the spotlight than it has ever been before. 

VTMNTS appears as a spinoff of Vetements, a luxury oriented line co-owned by Demna that is inspired directly by the looks of streetwear. 

Conceptualized and launched in 2014, the brand has recently gained a reputation as first choice for some of the biggest rappers in the industry. Playboi Carti is a major piece in this, he has been seen wearing both Vetements and Balenciaga at shows and public appearances. 

Kanye West is another name on that list, Demna and Kanye’s relationship stems from the launch of Yeezy back in 2015. Demna acted as a lead designer for Yeezy season 1. 

Kanye and Demna’s relationship has only progressed since then, photos of them together at Balenciaga stores or at public outings aren’t uncommon. 

For Kanye’s Donda album premier, his outfit was head-to-toe Balenciaga. He was joined by Playboi Carti at this event, wearing both Vetements and Balenciaga together. It seems Kanye and Carti both have a taste for Gvasalia’s work.

Both of these brands have strong roots in streetwear. Judging off of Demna’s outfits at public appearances and his own fashion shows it’s justified to say that it’s one of his biggest inspirations.

With an owner that has a personal interest in the look, it’s no surprise that Balenciaga began adapting the look by the early to mid 2010’s and gave room for other designers and high fashion brands to follow in the same path.

Denma’s taste for casual looks that have a luxury spin on them was clear after the launch and success of Vetements. 

The adaptation of casual clothing into ready-to-wear shows took a longer time than most people think. Even coming into the 1960’s, major fashion houses didn’t have so-called “normal” clothes that people could wear to support and show off the brand. 

Until 1966, when Yves Saint Laurent (YSL) himself opened up his first store selling a ready-to-wear line. 

How are these different from the ones found on runways? Runway shows are meant to show the vision of the brand. Music, aesthetics, and models help portray the look that the brand wants to represent. 

A ready-to-wear show would be showing off pieces and items that you could find in a selected store, off the rack. Something more accessible to the masses. 

Until YSL’s first venture into the production of designer casual clothing, major fashion houses like Gucci and Dior were in Haute Couture. 

Haute Couture are fashion pieces that are created by hand, from start to finish. These are one of one, and the raw materials are of extremely high value. The idea of certain brands being flashy and desirable originated here. 

Where does this boil down today? Brands like Gucci and Chanel still have major relevance, and people want the ability to show off these brands without needing an occasion or access to a couture shop. 

Today, if you were to go into any designer store you’d find casual clothing such as hoodies and t-shirts. This was a long process in the fashion world. Before, you’d pay the price due to the rarity and quality of materials as well as labor. 

Not to say that brands wouldn’t be using high quality products. A lot of designer brands still have reputations for having high build quality and using exotic materials. 

Paying the price that others would pay for Haute Couture is less justified now, and some of what you’re paying is inspired by the aesthetic of the brand. Normal mark ups might be $250 at the most, using the best possible material. But people pay the price they do because it’s what the brand markets itself as and it’s what people are expecting to pay.

Gucci has to be expensive, because it’s Gucci. If they were charging $250 for a handbag instead of $2,000 they wouldn’t be themselves. The price plays a large part in how the brand shows itself off nowadays.

Enfants Riches Deprimes, owned by Henry Levi, is a brand that bases itself around this concept. The name translates to “depressed rich kids” in which Levi claims to be himself. Levi admits that the prices are inspired by the name and aesthetic of the brand.

Denma seems to be aware of his place in the fashion industry; he’s at the head of some of the most relevant brands on the planet right now. 

With some of the world’s biggest artists and musicians wearing his work, why start a new brand based off of an already existing one? Gvasalia left Vetements in 2019 and his brother, Guram acts as creative director as of now. 

Guram calls his new line a “Gender revolution”, even though VTMNTS was originally launched as menswear. His SS22 collection shows a change in attitude towards his targeted audience, t-shirts embracing male, female, and non-binary pronouns are the first thing that I saw about the brand. 

Even though wearing a $300 shirt that says “he/him” instead of my normal t-shirts might not be a “Gender revolution”, the fact that a big name in the fashion world brought some attention to this is notable.