The luxury brand Balenciaga has a lot to endure criticism due to the disturbing depiction of children in the Spring/Summer 2023 collection. The brand recently published photos of two prepubescent girls wearing bondage gear, which reminds people of ‘BDSM’. The children were shown posing with teddy bears, who were dressed in fishnet tops, leather harnesses and collars with locks. Reportedly, one of the disturbing images also included documents from a child abuse case.
the “Balenciaga” brand recently did a uh….. interesting… photo shoot for their new products, which included a very intentionally poorly concealed court document about “virtual child pornography”
normal things pic.twitter.com/zjMN5WhZ0s
— shoe (@shoe0nhead) November 21, 2022
The photographer who took the photos gets all the rights heat from the audience, but the real mastermind behind the shoot is someone else. According to a Twitter user using curioslight, the person behind the shoot is Lotta Volkova, who has been a stylist at Balenciaga since 2014. Gabriele Galimberti, the photographer who photographed the collection, claimed in his statement that he was targeted despite having no creative control over the project.
After the hundreds of hate mails and messages I received in response to 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 emphasize that I had no right in any way to choose the products or the models. As a photographer, I was only asked to light the given scene and take the pictures according to my signature style. He called the public reaction a form of “lynching” and claimed he was accused of being a pedophile on his social media accounts.
Galimberti categorically denied being part of the controversial shoot, and he credited an American photographer, Chris Maggio, as the man behind that shoot.
Speaking of Chris, Curioslight said they came across a photo shoot where the girl resembled the one in Balenciaga’s shoot. It was initially thought to be the same child model, but it later transpired that the similarity was due to the similar style. The shoot was done for a magazine called Doubleand Lotta Volkova did the styling.
This is when the can of worms full of controversial and problematic social media posts in the not-so-hidden world of the fashion industry was opened. Going through the stylist’s now private account, the Twitter user discovered that Volkova has been posting a lot about kids. She has worked extensively with brands such as Vogue, Adidas, Balenciaga, Chanel, Jean Paul Gaultier and many others.
She has worked with Vogue, Adidas, Balenciaga, Chanel, Jean Paul Gaultier among many others, Marc Jabos is constantly commenting on her insta. Now let’s focus on her insta and her relationship with an accused pedophile. pic.twitter.com/NQMuDZgWTz
— Curioslight (@curioslight) November 27, 2022
Curioslight highlighted how Volkova tagged Gosha Rubchinskiy in one of her posts with a scene from the horror movie The Shining.
I found the photo on the right incredibly disturbing that she actually references when she tagged gosha and added a wink. Maybe it’s just weird goth humor, but it’s from The Shining, which is about witches who shine some young boys. pic.twitter.com/YfGXowHgHP
— Curioslight (@curioslight) November 27, 2022
Gosha Rubchinskiy is a fashion designer who came into disrepute in 2019 after his inappropriate conversations with an underage boy surfaced that year.
Oh no… Gosha Rubchinskiy what are you doing 🤦♂️
What started as a discussion about a modeling opportunity for this 16-year-old boy quickly turned left when Gosha started sending some very questionable messages…
This is very unfortunate if it is real. pic.twitter.com/Yt1CKxZvU3
— Streetwear Night Live (@StreetNightLive) December 8, 2018
curioslight mentioned that Lotta’s 2015 posts had visibly young boys. “She, like Gosha, has an interest in really young looking guys, it’s really hard to guess their ages, some of them I would say look no older than 13. I could be wrong, but look at her insta and campaigns,” said the tweeter.
— Curioslight (@curioslight) November 27, 2022
In addition, it was revealed how Lotta “liked” the pictures of children in need, slavery and similar images.
— Curioslight (@curioslight) November 27, 2022
Some posts were even liked and commented on by American fashion designer Marc Jacobs. On one of the 2019 posts, which featured a little girl with fake blonde hair smiling, Jacobs said, “So good.” The Twitter user said, “I found this one below incredibly disturbing, and look who’s commenting on the girl lying down. Marc Jacobs himself. This rabbit hole I went down took me from a #BalenciagaGate to #FashionGate. Jacobs is a very popular name in the fashion industry.
I found this one below incredibly disturbing and look who’s commenting on the girl lying down. Marc Jacobs himself. This rabbit hole I went down took me from a #BalenciagaGate until #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 let’s look at what I think leads Lotta Volkova behind the #Balenciaga ads. She has a weird fetish for teddy bears. I don’t know why, but see for yourself. pic.twitter.com/1wuYNaTRY5
— Curioslight (@curioslight) November 27, 2022
In another post from 2015, the teddy bear was enslaved, and that post had a comment from Gosha Rubchinskiy.
I personally started to realize that she is behind this weird bondage, BDSM that is starting to enter the fashion world, like in Adidas collaboration. pic.twitter.com/UYavHHYufe
— Curioslight (@curioslight) November 27, 2022
Furthermore, the user shared screenshots of Volkova’s Instagram account that revolves around BDSM in the tweets. Her obsession with BDSM was also evident in her work, even for high-profile brands like Chanel.
In the following tweet, Curioslight highlighted that in 2018 she posted an image with the hashtag Moloch, an ancient pagan god, and that people used to sacrifice children to please him.
@Xx17965797N recently uploaded a disturbing video showing bags containing babies in blood. This is not accidental. Lotta Volkova posted this photo on her instagram with the hashtag #Moloch that’s an old pagan god where they sacrificed children https://t.co/FAjsYTXhs0 pic.twitter.com/znCnZpk35V
— Curioslight (@curioslight) November 27, 2022
Interestingly, another user using the Xx17965797N handle pointed out that Balenciaga also allegedly sells fake babies covered in blood.
⚠️Balenciaga sells fake babies with accessories covered in blood‼️‼️‼️‼️ pic.twitter.com/xJannj29nE
— .. (@Xx17965797N) November 27, 2022
Another user pointed out that the video was from a Balenciaga fashion show.
They are runway models and the dolls were used as props. Fake blood and mud were part of the makeup. This was not an underground event. The Kardashians, Kanye and their children were on hand to watch, along with other wealthy elites. pic.twitter.com/Zp6nVl0f67
– Tear her to shreds (@__PrettyRoses__) November 27, 2022
Curioslight also highlighted that Volkova teamed up 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 when she had this and then tagged Gosh? Also check out the comment below with Bloodlust…She has worked with Terry Richardson, a well known pedo and perv pic.twitter.com/sFNj5v07Ya
— Curioslight (@curioslight) November 27, 2022
It is clear that the alleged rot in the fashion industry is not limited to a few high-end brands, and that a more thorough clean-up is needed to ensure the safety of children.
