Yilmaz Sen

"Back in September, Balenciaga presented its SS19 collection during PFW. For the show, artistic director Demna Gvasalia collaborated with visual artist Jon Rafman to create a set that felt like you were inside a computer, but IRL.

Continuing to warp reality, the Parisian house has collaborated with digital artist Yilmaz Sen on a series of trippy campaign videos for its SS19 collection. You’ve probably seen them all over Instagram, featuring Balenciaga-clad models rendered in 3D suddenly contorting into a variety of unnatural positions. It’s a weird flex, but we’re okay with it.

“I wanted to explore human anatomy and imagine that something that isn’t possible in real life,” the artist tells us. “My intention was to show something unpleasant in a pleasant way and surprise people.” Given complete creative control by Balenciaga, Sen worked on the project solidly for a month, shooting with the house’s stylist Lotta Volkova and then working with a team in post-production to create the final animations.

With the rise of computer-generated crossovers in the industry right now – look no further than CGI influencers like Lil Miquela, or digital clothing collections – Sen is hoping this won’t be his last fashion project. “I like to work on projects where I get to play around with our perception of reality more,” he muses. “ I’m working on a short movie project at the moment and I hope that will open up some more doors for me – only time will tell.”

Here, we talk to the artist about the series and why we’re seeing a crossover with fashion and computer-generated art right now."

Digital Dazed