The luxury brand Balenciaga is facing a lot of criticism for its disturbing portrayal of children for its Spring/Summer 2023 Collection. The brand recently published pictures of two pre-pubescent girls with bondage gear, reminding people of ‘BDSM’. The children were shown posing with teddy bears, which were dressed in fishnet tops, leather harnesses, and collars with locks. Reportedly, one of the disturbing images also contained documents from a child abuse case.
the brand “Balenciaga” just did a uh….. interesting… photoshoot for their new products recently which included a very purposely poorly hidden court document about ‘virtual child porn’
— shoe (@shoe0nhead) November 21, 2022
normal stuff pic.twitter.com/zjMN5WhZ0s
The photographer who shot the photographs is getting all the heat from the public, but the real brain behind the shoot is someone else. As per a Twitter user who goes by the handle curioslight, the person behind the shoot is Lotta Volkova, who has been a stylist with Balenciaga since 2014. Gabriele Galimberti, the photographer who shot the collection, claimed in his statement that he was being targeted despite the fact that he had no creative control over the project.
Following the hundreds of hate mails and messages I received as a result of the photos I took for the Balenciaga campaign, I feel compelled to make this statement. pic.twitter.com/Hn7Ctg43o3
— Gabriele Galimberti | live on SR 💎 (@GabrieleGalimba) November 23, 2022
Galimberti said, “I must stress that I was not entitled in whatsoever manner to choose the products or the models. As a photographer, I was only and solely requested to light the given scene and take the shots according to my signature style.” Calling the reaction of the public a form of “lynching”, he claimed he was being accused of being a pedophile on his social media accounts.
Galimberti categorically denied being part of the controversial shoot, and he named an American Photographer, Chris Maggio, to be the man behind that shoot.
Speaking about Chris, Curioslight said that they stumbled upon a photo shoot where the girl looked similar to the one in Balenciaga’s shoot. At first, it was thought to be the same child model, but later it was found that the resemblance was because of the similar style. The shoot was done for a magazine named Double, and Lotta Volkova did the styling.
This is when the can of worms full of controversial and problematic social media posts around the not-so-hidden world of the fashion industry got opened. The Twitter user went through the now-private account of the stylist and found that Volkova has been posting a lot of posts revolving around children. She has worked extensively with brands like Vogue, Adidas, Balenciaga, Chanel, Jean Paul Gaultier, and many others.
She has worked with Vogue,Adidas,Balenciaga,Chanel, Jean Paul Gaultier amongst many others, Marc Jabos constantyl comment on her insta. Now lets focus on her insta and her relationship with a accused pedophile. pic.twitter.com/NQMuDZgWTz
— curioslight (@curioslight) November 27, 2022
Curioslight highlighted how Volkova tagged Gosha Rubchinskiy in one of her posts which had a scene from the horror movie The Shining.
I found the pic on the right incredible disturbing what is she actually referring to when she tagged gosha and added a wink. Maybe it’s just some weird goth humour but it is from the The Shining, which is about witches that what a young boys shining. pic.twitter.com/YfGXowHgHP
— curioslight (@curioslight) November 27, 2022
Gosha Rubchinskiy is a fashion designer who got into a controversy in 2019 after his inappropriate chats with a minor boy surfaced that year.
Oh no… Gosha Rubchinskiy what are you doing 🤦♂️
— Streetwear Night Live (@StreetNightLive) December 8, 2018
What started out as a discussion about a modeling opportunity for this 16 year old boy quickly turned left as Gosha started sending some very questionable messages…
This is very unfortunate if real. pic.twitter.com/Yt1CKxZvU3
curioslight mentioned that the posts by Lotta from 2015 had visibly young boys. “She has, just like Gosha, an interest in really young-looking boys, it’s really hard to guess their ages, some, I would say, look no more than 13. I could be wrong but have a look at her insta and campaigns,” the twitter user said.
— curioslight (@curioslight) November 27, 2022
Furthermore, it was revealed how Lotta “liked” the photographs depicting children either in distress, bondage, and images of similar nature.
— curioslight (@curioslight) November 27, 2022
Some of the posts were even liked and commented on by American fashion designer Marc Jacobs. One of the posts from 2019, which had a little girl with fake blonde hair lying down and smiling, had Jacobs comment saying, “So good”. The Twitter user said, “I found these below incredibly disturbing, and look who’s commenting on the girl that is laying down. Marc Jacobs himself. This rabbit hole I went on took me from a #BalenciagaGate to #FashionGate.” Jacobs is a very popular name in the fashion industry.
I found these below incredible disturbing and look who’s commenting on the girl that is laying down. Marc Jacobs himself. This rabbit hole I went on took me from a #BalenciagaGate to #FashionGate pic.twitter.com/Vt0V6kslBQ
— curioslight (@curioslight) November 27, 2022
The Twitter user also highlighted Lotta’s obsession with teddy bears. In one of the screenshots, the teddy bear was in a “compromised” position.
Now lets go into what leads to me think Lotta Volkova was behind the #Balenciaga ads. She has a weird fetish for teddy bears I don’t know why but have a look and see for yourself. pic.twitter.com/1wuYNaTRY5
— curioslight (@curioslight) November 27, 2022
In another post from 2015, the teddy bear was in bondage, and that post had a comment by Gosha Rubchinskiy.
I personally started realizing that she’s behind this weird bondage,BDSM that starts to enter the fashion world like in Adidas collab. pic.twitter.com/UYavHHYufe
— curioslight (@curioslight) November 27, 2022
Further, in the tweets, the user shared screenshots of Volkova’s Instagram account revolving around BDSM. Her obsession with BDSM was visible in her work too, even for high-profile brands like Chanel.
In the next tweet, Curioslight highlighted she posted an image in 2018 with the hashtag Moloch, an ancient pagan God, and people used to sacrifice children to please him.
@Xx17965797N recently uploaded a disturbing video with bags that had babies in blood. This is not by coincidence. Lotta Volkova uploaded this picture on her instagram with the hashtag #Moloch which is an ancient Pagan god where they sacrificied children https://t.co/FAjsYTXhs0 pic.twitter.com/znCnZpk35V
— curioslight (@curioslight) November 27, 2022
Interestingly, another user that goes by the handle Xx17965797N pointed out that Balenciaga allegedly also sells fake babies covered in blood.
⚠️Balenciaga selling fake babies with accessories that are covered in blood‼️‼️‼️‼️ pic.twitter.com/xJannj29nE
— .. (@Xx17965797N) November 27, 2022
Another user pointed out that the video was from a fashion show by Balenciaga.
They are runway models, and the dolls were used as props. Fake blood and mud were part of the makeup. This wasn’t some underground event. The Kardashians, Kanye and their kids were there to watch, along with other wealthy elites. pic.twitter.com/Zp6nVl0f67
— Rip Her to Shreds (@__PrettyRoses__) November 27, 2022
Curioslight also highlighted that Volkova worked with Terry Richardson in 2015. Richardson has been accused of sexual misconduct by several young models. He was also accused of being a pedophile which he had categorically denied on several occasions.
Remember she had this and then tagged Gosh ? Also look at the comment below saying Bloodlust…She has worked with Terry Richardson a known pedo and perv pic.twitter.com/sFNj5v07Ya
— curioslight (@curioslight) November 27, 2022
It is evident that the alleged rot in the fashion industry is not limited to a few high-end brands, and a deeper cleanup is required to ensure children’s safety.
