\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tMarco Balich and Luisa Zargani at the 2026 WWD Apparel and Retail CEO Summit.<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Allie Joseph<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tPerhaps Balich didn\u2019t think he had much to offer because he views the fashion industry like one of the millions of people who watch his sports ceremonies: as a spectator. He\u2019s always admired the \u201cfilter of beauty\u201d that fashion applies to all of its expressions, he said, be it physical merchandise, retail or the runway. \u201cI\u2019m fascinated by that.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThat fascination is what led him to expand in 2013 with Balich Bespoke, an offshoot of Balich Wonder Studio tailor-made for live event production for the world\u2019s leading names in high fashion and jewelry. Alongside Dolce & Gabbana, Bespoke clients include Bulgari, Max Mara and Louis Vuitton.<\/p>\n \n\tAccording to Balich, fashion shouldn\u2019t be treated as a niche interest shared by a select few. \u201cIt\u2019s crucial that everything we do is understood by a 14-year-old distracted guy, whether in Kamchatka or in Chile,\u201d he said, adding that the best way to accomplish that is through emotion. Otherwise, a pretty dress or gold trophy is meaningless without feelings of \u201cunity, love, respect and beauty\u201d to charge them.<\/p>\n \n\tCalling out fashion for its \u201csnobbish approach\u201d to events, Balich said all it takes is a \u201clittle flick\u201d of meaning to fuel desire and establish a direct connection with everyone on the other side of the velvet rope. \u201cI mean, those big brands are huge, so it\u2019s really important that they add that flick.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAsked how much of a role location plays in that \u201cflick,\u201d Balich responded: \u201cI don\u2019t think location or budget are essential\u2026OK,\u201d he allowed, \u201cthe more budget you have, of course, the happier we are. But at the end of the day, [the goal] is to be meaningful.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAs an example, Balich recounted the opening ceremony of the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics produced by Balich Wonder Studio. He said his challenge was celebrating Made in Italy craftsmanship in a way that wasn\u2019t so obvious as to come across as a marketing ploy.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tModels wearing suits designed by Giorgio Armani during the opening ceremony of the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics.<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tScreens at the summit projected a video of 60 models dressed in green, white and red pantsuits by Giorgio Armani. Balich described the late fashion icon as a symbol of Milan and an \u201cexceptional story\u201d of a self-made man who rose to become a global powerhouse. \u201cSo we took him, which, as you know, he just passed away, and we celebrated him through\u2026something that was very meaningful for the people there at the stadium and the people in Italy, at least, which was the celebration of the Italian flag.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe suits were some of Armani\u2019s last creations, \u201cso it was a celebration of the outfit, but within a context that was meaningful,\u201d Balich said. \u201cIt still gives me goosebumps.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tPressed to suggest more ways that fashion can find meaning, Balich put up another humble front, saying: \u201cI don\u2019t know if I can,\u201d before discussing the value of simplicity.<\/p>\n \n\tOftentimes the belief in any creative industry is that a complicated message translates to cultural panache, but \u201cI\u2019m totally against that principle. Simplicity can be super cool,\u201d he contended. \u201cSimplicity can be understood by everyone. And that doesn\u2019t mean that it\u2019s banal or cheap. It can be a beautiful statement, and that is something in this new world dominated by social media that I think is very important to adopt.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAnother lesson Balich has for fashion? Put down the AI assistants. \u201cIf you give a brief to Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini, and you say, \u2018Do this ceremony with these kinds of features that has to celebrate fashion design or whatever,\u2019 it will come out with the same answer.\u201d But if you give the same prompt to three different creative directors, he explained, that brief will come out with three totally different points-of-view. And \u201cpoints-of-view are what make our world more interesting, the luxury world, fashion shows more interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tThe opening ceremony of the 2026 FIFA World Cup at Mexico City Stadium.<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tA second video then played, showing this summer\u2019s FIFA World Cup ceremonies in Canada, Mexico and the U.S., proof that three POVs are greater than the sum of their parts.<\/p>\n \n\tTranslating the idea to fashion, Balich put it like this: \u201cIf only the beautiful fashionista can get my products, it\u2019s an excuse not to challenge yourself with a wider audience, so when you do your shows, be courageous.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tHe acknowledged efforts to make the runway more accessible like livestreaming, watch parties and public venues, saying these can turn something that\u2019s traditionally business-to-business into entertainment for consumers. \u201cI think that\u2019s a very clever way to enlarge.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Speaking at WWD\u2019s Apparel and Retail CEO Summit last week, Marco Balich didn\u2019t seem to think he had much to offer the audience. \u201cI don\u2019t know if I can be very helpful…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":226,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wom.beauty\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wom.beauty\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wom.beauty\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wom.beauty\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wom.beauty\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wom.beauty\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wom.beauty\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wom.beauty\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wom.beauty\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wom.beauty\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Marco](\"https:\/\/wwd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/20261027_AllieJoseph_7535.jpeg?w=300\")
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