In reality, however, the photograph used in the “ad” was then roughly five years old, had nothing to do with Balenciaga or any Balenciaga product, and had been deceptively edited to bear the company’s logo.
The picture, which did not originally contain a Balenciaga logo, was taken from an Etsy page active in January 2017 that offered faux human-skin garments created by Australian special effects artist Kayla Arena. Here are a few of the products that were advertised on the page at the time:
Arena uses latex and silicone to simulate human skin in her creations, which more recently have included fake-but-real-looking corpses and body parts she constructed for the Guillermo Del Toro horror anthology TV series “Cabinet of Curiosities.”
A similar deceptive social media campaign was built around a falsely labeled picture purporting to show Balenciaga stylist Lotta Volkova covered in
blood and modeling a “satanic” outfit.
There are some technological advances that feel like a worthy investment, while others are a bit more of a “nice-to-have” than a “need-to-have.” For example, maybe you don’t think you need to own a jacket that heats up at the touch of a button. But according to our PEOPLE team of testers, who took several heated jackets for a spin in our lab, your winter wardrobe won’t be complete without this genius piece of apparel.
Originally created to keep motorcyclists warm during chilly rides, heated jackets have now become mainstream, with people wearing them while skiing, rooting for their favorite football team at a stadium, taking their dogs for a walk in the winter… you name it. Sure, you could layer up to stay toasty, but imagine not having to put on an extra thermal because your jacket did all the heavy lifting?
The science behind these cozy jackets involves carbon fiber heating elements, which generate heat along the chest and mid-back. By just pressing the logo on the left breast, you can choose whether you want low, medium, or high heat, as well as turn the jacket on and off.
The heating mechanism is powered by a rechargeable battery, which has a generous run time of up to 10 hours; on the highest level, you’ll get three hours of charge. You can even plug your phone into the battery and juice up while you warm up — talk about a win-win!
