What Is Kering? Balenciaga Owner Slammed by Ex-Designer

Balenciaga owner Kering has been called out by Nicolas Ghesquière.

The French fashion designer, 51, previously worked as Balenciaga's creative director from 1997 to 2012. Currently, he serves as the artistic director of Louis Vuitton, a position he's held since 2013.

On Friday, November 25, Ghesquière took to his Instagram Story to slam his former employer.

"When I left @kering in 2012 I felt disconnected and hurt by [their] values and dishonesty," he wrote to his 950,000 followers.

What Is the Balenciaga Scandal?

The comment comes following online backlash over Balenciaga's recent holiday ad campaign, which featured children holding teddy bears dressed in bondage gear.

The luxury fashion brand, founded in 1919 by the Spanish designer Cristóbal Balenciaga, apologized on Tuesday.

"We sincerely apologize for any offense our holiday campaign may have caused. Our plush bear bags should not have been featured with children in this campaign. We have immediately removed the campaign from all platforms," the company shared via its Instagram Story.

Balenciaga also acknowledged backlash over another image that made the rounds on social media. In a separate campaign photo for its Spring 23 collection, eagle-eyed Twitter users noticed what appeared to be a 2008 Supreme Court ruling tucked behind a handbag.

The United States v. Williams ruling criminalized the pandering of child pornography. It is unclear if this paperwork was used in the Spring 23 photo shoot.

"We apologize for displaying unsettling documents in our campaign. We take this matter very seriously and are taking legal action against the parties responsible for creating the set and including unapproved items for our Spring 23 campaign photoshoot," Balenciaga continued in its statement. "We strongly condemn abuse of children in any form. We stand for children safety and well-being."

Gabriele Galimberti—who photographed the holiday ad campaign but is not associated with the Spring 23 collection—also spoke out after receiving "hundreds of hate mails and messages," he wrote via Instagram.

"I am not in a position to comment Balenciaga's choices, but I must stress that I was not entitled in whatsoever manner to neither chose the products, nor the models, nor the combination of the same. As a photographer, I was only and solely requested to lit the given scene, and take the shots according to my signature style. As usual for a commercial shooting, the direction of the campaign and the choice of the objects displayed are not in the hands of the photographer," Galimberti said on Wednesday.

"I suspect that any person prone to pedophilia searches on the web and has unfortunately a too easy access to images completely different than mine, absolutely explicit in their awful content. Lynching like these are addressed against wrong targets, and distract from the real problem, and criminals."

Galimberti also made it clear that he did not photograph the court document image. Social media users had lumped the picture together with his photos, making it look like he took that too.

"I have no connection with the photo where a Supreme Court document appears," he said. "That one was taken in another set by other people and was falsely associated with my photos."

Galimberti told Newsweek the Spring 23 campaign was "done weeks before my first contact with Balenciaga."

Balenciaga also confirmed to Newsweek that Galimberti "was not involved in any way" with the Spring 23 collection.

A representative for the brand clarified that they are "actively investigating the content of the Spring 23 campaign and taking legal against the parties responsible for creating the Spring 23 set and including unapproved items for that campaign photoshoot."

What Is Kering?

Kering is the French-based corporation that owns Balenciaga, Gucci, Alexander McQueen, Yves Saint Laurent and more luxury brands.

In addition to Nicolas Ghesquière, social media users have criticized Kering too.

"So BALENCIAGA, a brand belonging to Kering which has a market cap of about 70 billion, posted children with bondage gear teddy bears and had an easter egg supreme court document about child pornography... and then deleted all their Instagram posts when called out for it...," one person wrote on Twitter in a comment, which has since racked up more than 44,000 likes.

Another added: "Are we still in cancel culture? Use it for good then! Cancel Balenciaga and its parent company Kering. Disgusting! #CancelBalenciaga."

Newsweek reached out to Kering for comment.

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