Wait, doesn’t the devil wear Prada?
As if Balenciaga’s controversial commercials — and the $25 million lawsuit they’ve spawned — didn’t feature enough disturbing elements, some conspiracy theorists now claim to have spotted “Satanic cult” symbols in the fraught fashion house’s scandalous ad campaigns.
A bizarre video detailing the alleged demonic imagery has amassed 3.1 million views on TikTok as of Thursday afternoon, with some viewers piling on to accuse the brand of “hidden messages” amid pleas for the second coming of “lord Jesus Christ 🙏🙏🙏” in the crowded comments section.
“Balenciaga on a mad one,” TikTok content creator and music producer Marc Baigent captioned the allegedly incriminating clip, which claims to expose “satanic cult” symbolism using children as pawns.
For the uninitiated, the top fashion label came under fire after running problematic campaigns featuring young children modeling with what appear to be teddy bears wearing bondage gear. The ads were met with criticisms and allegations of normalizing sexual fetishization and abuse of children, and eagle-eyed social media watchdogs pointed out that another ad showed what appeared to be legal documents from a Supreme Court case that ruled on federal laws regarding child pornography.
However, according to Baigent’s TikTok, these adverts also included something else that was equally sinister: “Five things spotted in one of the Balenciaga campaign photos,” intones the narrator in the clip as the camera zooms in on various supposedly demonic memorabilia in a photo of a young boy. These supposedly Luciferian totems included an alleged “child’s drawing of the devil” and a shady black hood of the type worn by “Satanic cult” members, per the clip.
“Even the trainers look like the devil staring you right in the face,” the narrator declares, referring to the boy bright red shoes. He also highlights the lone candle sitting adjacent to them like something out of a seance from an occult horror flick.
On Monday, the luxury couture company issued a statement saying, “We strongly condemn child abuse; it was never our intent to include it in the narrative.”
The Post has reached out to Balenciaga’s reps for comment about the latest viral accusations — which are completely unconfirmed at this time — in the sartorial-meets-satanic saga.
Perhaps the most devilish element, per the clip, is the roll of yellow Balenciaga tape with the label’s named misspelled with two As, forming “Baal.”
Baal was reportedly an ancient fertility god worshipped in many ancient Middle Eastern communities, including the Canaanites, who were infamous for sacrificing children.
“Lastly, one of the dolls with a padlock around its neck. Coincidence?” the narrator teases in the video while zooming into a shackled plush in BDSM-style garb.
Jumping on the bandwith bandwagon, many viewers declared that the items were indicative of devil worship. “It’s one dark company,” claimed one commenter, while another chimed in: “They are definitely doing this on purpose.”
Others claimed that the rug the kid was standing on resembled an Ouija board.
This comes as Balenciaga faces backlash over its campaigns featuring children holding plush toys wearing bondage get-ups, as well as what appears to be photographs of paperwork from a Supreme Court case that upheld part of a federal child pornography law. The fashion house has since apologized, pulled the ads, and vowed internal and external investigations. They also filed a $25 million lawsuit against producers of one of the ads.
Nonetheless, fashion industry insiders have blamed Demna Gvasalia, Balenciaga’s creative director since 2015, for failing to take responsibility for the scandal.
Olga Liriano, who’s spent years in the fashion industry as a model booker, photo director and top magazine editor, said it is ridiculous to think Demna and the top echelon at Balenciaga didn’t know what the campaigns were going to look like once they were photographed. (The teddy-bear ad was shot by Gabriele Galimberti, who has said he was told the theme was “punk.”)
“Oh please,” Liriano said. “Demna doesn’t put out one image that he hasn’t approved. Demna is not only the creative director, he’s driving all the imagery behind the campaigns. To blame a production company is nuts.”
Meanwhile, the Business of Fashion rescinded its Global Award, which was due to have been presented to Demna at the website’s annual gala on Thursday.
