Talk About Hearts on Sleeves: Balenciaga Brings the Bern to Paris Catwalks

The white-haired, famously dowdy political firebrand apparently inspired Balenciaga creative director Demna Gvasalia, whose fall 2017 menswear show at Paris Fashion Week paid homage to the former presidential candidate.

In a collection focused on corporate style, Gvasalia introduced a new Balenciaga logo modeled after Sanders' campaign logo and threw in several nods to Sanders' navy blues and sensible shoes aesthetic.

The Bernie/Balenciaga logo showed up on giant scarves, tee-shirts and a jacket, but the reference went further than that. The grays, blues and khakis of the collection on first blush could conceivably share closet space with an LL Bean loyalist. Cuts were often boxy, colors primary, fabrics cozy — evoking what might make sense during a Vermont fall. There were even sneakers — sensible, supportive and, by the look of them at least, well used. 

​This being fashion, of course, the collection wasn't exactly Marshall's. You probably won't catch the Senator in a pair of Gvasalia's low-rise, skinny suit paints, or a shiny, ankle-length black trench coat. But for the corporate beast who wants to show he still Berns, there's a four-figure flannel for you.

The collection is a sort of office drone-slacker combination: ironically bland, the Observer called it. Gvasalia, called by the Fashionista website, "the current master of working pop culture moments into his designs," is clearly still riding the Sanders revolution.

Sanders himself, of course, is surprised. "I think of my many attributes, being a great dresser or a fashion maven is not one of them, he told CNN February 5.