The first look in Demna’s first menswear collection at the brand. A taster: the oversized and strangely proportioned that would come to define his tenure.

The year is 2016: Donald Trump just became President of the United States.

Demna’s work dealt a lot with geo-political ephemera. Case in point: he reimagined the Balenciaga logo in the style of US senator Bernie Sanders’ election banner. Was this solidarity with the Democrat-leftie? He’s got our vote.

I also like to call autumn/winter 2017 the ‘domestic debris’ collection: he sold versions of the brand’s shopping bags in leather . . .

A version of the luxe IKEA bag. Love or hate it, I still want one.

It was hard to draw the line between Demna’s shenanigans at Vetements, the provocative brand that he co-founded with his brother, Guram Gvasalia. (Demna would leave in 2019, cutting ties with his brother, too.)

People asked at the time: do you pay for each layer? Or is it a package deal? It was the latter, and it retailed for $9,000.

This season also saw his first collaboration with the World Food Programme of all things.

More domestic debris! This time coming with a mini version.

Demna also loved merch, so he sold his in the triple digits.

Demna was clever with a logo, taking the most overlooked in the world under his wing. So no one saw it coming when ‘Balenciaga’ was written into the Mastercard circles. This collection marked the start of his corporate fetish – the ‘office siren’ still an embryo.

You have to admire the runway set design for spring/summer 2020, too, covering a circular room floor-to-ceiling in the same shade of the United Nations.

Odd proportions were Demna’s bread and butter.

I wouldn’t want to hug anyone in this jacket.

Autumn/winter 2020 also marked the start of Demna’s dystopian set designs.

The world was in Covid-19 lockdown, so brands reverted to look-book collections.

Demna loved his knight in armour. Also notice his first take on the city bag.

An invite to the first Balenciaga haute couture show in 53 years was the hottest ticket in town that season. And from what we’ve seen so far, what could we expect of Demna’s couture? Why, but couture hoodies and jeans, of course.

By this point, Demna started to cast friends and industry folk to model his clothes. This guy you might not know; he’s usually behind the camera. It’s Juergen Teller!

Dev Hynes!

The collab to end all collabs. Resort 2022 saw the merging of two of the luxury conglomerate Kering’s crown jewels, Balenciaga and Gucci.

While you’ll notice the double logo first, the silhouette and accessorising was the perfect execution of Demna’s favourite pagoda shoulders with Gucci’s equestrian heritage. Though the jockey whip has a more kink feel here, it makes it very Demna.

You can guess these necklaces were a best-seller.

Little did we know then with this collab.

The horrors coming out of Ukraine was re-traumatising for Demna, who fled the war in Abkhazia, Georgia, as a child in 1993. He sent models down his runway/tundra with leather garbage bags in hand, and whatever clothes they could take with them. That included yellow Balenciaga tape.

Even the photographers had a hard time.

Some designers would bring you to Capri for their resort show. Demna brought the media and his high-spending clients to the New York Stock Exchange. Staged in one of the world’s biggest financial hubs, he sent models in leather bondage masks, exploring his interest in corporate fetish further. Topping it off, the collection debuted his collaboration with Adidas.

Couture scuba suits! Don’t write this one off too quickly, neoprene is a pain to sew. And to make it seamless, smooth as a dolphin? A technical feat.

Another one of his dystopian set designs, was the inspo Glastonbury?

Oh, let me just run to the shops with my Balenciaga grocery bag.

Another destination show, Demna brought his audience to sunny Los Angeles, staging his show on the palm tree-lined Sunset Strip. The city is also the natural habitat of one of his biggest clients and friends: Kim Kardashian. Aptly, you could say the collection was made for her.

Erewhon collab! And, yes, the paper bags were made of leather.

The Uniqlo U T-shirt, but make it couture.

Demna’s last ready-to-wear collection earlier this January. At the time of the show, he proclaimed that he was done with the oversized – let’s hope he doesn’t bring back the skinny suit at Gucci.

This look would be a hit with the finance bros.

Who knows, maybe the bouncer at your favourite ritzy club is wearing Balenciaga haute couture.

Bye, Demna! You will be missed.