Balenciaga Pre-Fall look book would have been one heck of a shoot had Balenciaga’s models actually been to Paris, New York, Venice, Shanghai, London, Brussels, Tokyo, Amsterdam, Athens, Moscow, Sydney, Rome, San Francisco, Belize, Chicago, Cairo and Agra, home to the Taj Mahal.

“We Photoshopped everything,” Demna Gvasalia said explaining that he wanted to express nostalgia for travel after more than a year of coronavirus restrictions and hope that the skies will open up soon. He also wished to transmit good vibrations with a “feel good” clip rather than yet another fashion video, so he mashed together images “scientifically proven” to lift moods people hugging or dancing, adorable baby animals, dramatic skies all set to stirring music. “I thought it was a good moment to explore another way of brand expression, which is not product-related,” he mused.