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Meet Lotta Volkova – The alleged brains behind the controversial shoot of luxury brand Balenciaga

It is evident that the alleged rot in the fashion industry is not limited to a few high-end brands, and a deeper cleanup is required to ensure children's safety

The luxury brand Balenciaga is facing a lot of criticism for its disturbing portrayal of children for its Spring/Summer 2023 Collection. The brand recently published pictures of two pre-pubescent girls with bondage gear, reminding people of ‘BDSM’. The children were shown posing with teddy bears, which were dressed in fishnet tops, leather harnesses, and collars with locks. Reportedly, one of the disturbing images also contained documents from a child abuse case.

The photographer who shot the photographs is getting all the heat from the public, but the real brain behind the shoot is someone else. As per a Twitter user who goes by the handle curioslight, the person behind the shoot is Lotta Volkova, who has been a stylist with Balenciaga since 2014. Gabriele Galimberti, the photographer who shot the collection, claimed in his statement that he was being targeted despite the fact that he had no creative control over the project.

Galimberti said, “I must stress that I was not entitled in whatsoever manner to choose the products or the models. As a photographer, I was only and solely requested to light the given scene and take the shots according to my signature style.” Calling the reaction of the public a form of “lynching”, he claimed he was being accused of being a pedophile on his social media accounts.

Galimberti categorically denied being part of the controversial shoot, and he named an American Photographer, Chris Maggio, to be the man behind that shoot.

Speaking about Chris, Curioslight said that they stumbled upon a photo shoot where the girl looked similar to the one in Balenciaga’s shoot. At first, it was thought to be the same child model, but later it was found that the resemblance was because of the similar style. The shoot was done for a magazine named Double, and Lotta Volkova did the styling.

This is when the can of worms full of controversial and problematic social media posts around the not-so-hidden world of the fashion industry got opened. The Twitter user went through the now-private account of the stylist and found that Volkova has been posting a lot of posts revolving around children. She has worked extensively with brands like Vogue, Adidas, Balenciaga, Chanel, Jean Paul Gaultier, and many others.

Curioslight highlighted how Volkova tagged Gosha Rubchinskiy in one of her posts which had a scene from the horror movie The Shining.

Gosha Rubchinskiy is a fashion designer who got into a controversy in 2019 after his inappropriate chats with a minor boy surfaced that year.

curioslight mentioned that the posts by Lotta from 2015 had visibly young boys. “She has, just like Gosha, an interest in really young-looking boys, it’s really hard to guess their ages, some, I would say, look no more than 13. I could be wrong but have a look at her insta and campaigns,” the twitter user said.

Furthermore, it was revealed how Lotta “liked” the photographs depicting children either in distress, bondage, and images of similar nature.

Some of the posts were even liked and commented on by American fashion designer Marc Jacobs. One of the posts from 2019, which had a little girl with fake blonde hair lying down and smiling, had Jacobs comment saying, “So good”. The Twitter user said, “I found these below incredibly disturbing, and look who’s commenting on the girl that is laying down. Marc Jacobs himself. This rabbit hole I went on took me from a #BalenciagaGate to #FashionGate.” Jacobs is a very popular name in the fashion industry.

The Twitter user also highlighted Lotta’s obsession with teddy bears. In one of the screenshots, the teddy bear was in a “compromised” position.

In another post from 2015, the teddy bear was in bondage, and that post had a comment by Gosha Rubchinskiy.

Further, in the tweets, the user shared screenshots of Volkova’s Instagram account revolving around BDSM. Her obsession with BDSM was visible in her work too, even for high-profile brands like Chanel.

In the next tweet, Curioslight highlighted she posted an image in 2018 with the hashtag Moloch, an ancient pagan God, and people used to sacrifice children to please him.

Interestingly, another user that goes by the handle Xx17965797N pointed out that Balenciaga allegedly also sells fake babies covered in blood.

Another user pointed out that the video was from a fashion show by Balenciaga.

Curioslight also highlighted that Volkova worked with Terry Richardson in 2015. Richardson has been accused of sexual misconduct by several young models. He was also accused of being a pedophile which he had categorically denied on several occasions.

It is evident that the alleged rot in the fashion industry is not limited to a few high-end brands, and a deeper cleanup is required to ensure children’s safety.

Ayodhra Ram Mandir special coverage by OpIndia

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OpIndia Staff
OpIndia Staffhttps://www.opindia.com
Staff reporter at OpIndia

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