Balloon fashion, its potential to blow away the industry - an interview with Bence Borbely and Sam Thacker

With fabrication being a constant pinnacle of innovation within the fashion industry, it’s refreshing to see unexpected choices being offered. From the typical short lifecycle and solo mass use, it leads us to question the potential of unconventional yet mesmerising balloon fashion.

Introduced to the masses by Fredrik Tjaerandsen, the CSM graduate enlightened all through the art of shape shifting as a part of his ‘Moments of Clarity’ collection. The models glided down the runway encapsulated in sphere balloon contraptions finally slipping down into deflated dresses and skirts. Giving shapewear a whole new definition, the show was like nothing seen before, deviating the fashion industry into cutting edge modifications.

Whilst we are accustomed to transformable garments, it is true that they tend to be limited to meet simplistic mainstream needs for adaptability & practicality. For example, coats that fold into pockets, jeans that at a slight unzip become shorts etc. Tjaerandsen took this notion yet made it couture by completely defying practicality yet displaying a modernism take challenging conformity. The balloon creations evolved into garments through the use of science: a simple valve let air flow to be controlled allowing the wearer to fall into the piece as it floated down into innovation.

Since this movement, other designers followed by tapping into the world of unusual yet encapsulating balloon art. Upcoming creative Bence Borbely has undeniably perfected this way of design through his completely balloon focused fashion pieces ranging from glasses, bags and even ready-to-wear. Transferring the skills we are traditionally used to seeing within children’s birthday parties, Bence moulds the balloons to impeccably compliment classic fashion with architectural influence. Working with some of the biggest names in fashion including Vogue Portugal and House of Sunny, he is taking the industry by storm pushing the boundaries and introducing a breath of fresh air, quite literally.

This storm however, leads us to question, what next? Whilst desirable, is it possible for these pieces to become mass produced and staples items for fashion enthusiasts globally. There’s no doubt that we are all aware of a balloon’s fun yet short life span eventually dissolving into remains of what once was. Tjaerandesen proved that through thoughtful design, what lies in the depth of our imagination can be achieved, so it’s typical to wonder about other discoveries that would allow balloon fashion to withhold and develop into useable products.

Catching the eye of younger generations within fashion, styling student at De Montfort University Sam Thacker (known as Thackertime), collaborated with Bence to inspire his latest project. The art helped to complement Thackertime’s concept and bring his camp vision to life. This highlights the possibility for this innovation to transpire and frequently emerge so as active consumers, we can expect to see a brighter creative future in a new and exciting direction.

I am grateful to have been able to interview the incredible talented Bence and Thackertime to ponder the existence of balloon fashion further, and here is what they had to say:

Your work whilst incredible, is very niche, where did your balloon creations derive from and who inspires you?

Bence Borbely: I started designing with balloons at the age of 12 back in Budapest. Once moving to England when I was 15, I continued my studies & ended up studying architecture. Learning about design of environment encouraged me to innovate new ideas. I always had a passion for fashion and my dream was always to be a fashion designer.

In June 2022, I decided to give it a go and start making social content about my balloon fashion which blew up within the first day & the rest is history. Music videos, editorials, fashion week, influencer content & brand promotions. Projects in Milan, Miami and New York. Mind blowing even to me, quite literally.

My inspiration comes from a lot of different sources, such as nature, architecture, ideation. A lot of my stylistic representation is Avant Garde, futuristic modular design.

How do you envision balloon fashion to progress within the future of the industry and do you believe in the possibility it could become widely styled and owned within mass markets or stay couture?

Bence Borbely : Currently the balloons I use are biodegradable custom made designs. However, I have plans in the works to release my durable RTW collection as well as to continue creating couture & custom designs.

What projects have you recently worked on?

Bence Borbely: In the last 14 months, I’ve been working on a couple of custom designs for music videos for names such as ‘Sampa the Great’ and ‘BEKA’.

I have also worked on a few editorials, recently with Vogue Portugal (September Issue), The Collector Magazine in Milan, 17:23 Mag in NYC and a Fashion Show scene in Miami for an Amazon Prime production.

As an upcoming photographer and stylist, where would you like to see innovation within the fashion industry?

Sam Thacker : As a photographer who is very early in my career, I think finding your own personal style is crucial for innovation, but it doesn’t happen overnight. I still haven’t fully found my style yet but am on my way and believe it will continue to develop as I grow.

I think one very big piece of advice I would give for others in search of individuality thus innovation is not to compare your work to other photographers/creatives. Whilst using other people as inspiration is great, never compare yourself to people that have been in the industry a lot longer than you. When you can truly pinpoint your own take on industry standards, innovation follows. Using Bence as an example, his rapid growth is exceptional as consumers are introduced to a new version of fashion with complete distinction of style and therefore want to see more.

Everyone has their own style and way of working. Once you find your niche/style, you will find that concepts and shoots will come a lot more naturally as you already have your style set.

As an upcomer, I would personally love to see innovation and availability within shared work platforms in person, including exhibitions & events. Online portfolios and applications are great, but events are when you can submerge into creativity curated by the artist directly and learn directly from them rather than an Instagram caption.

What was the creative direction for the shoot with Bence and how did it coincide with the balloon styling?

Sam Thacker : This recent shoot was based around the first ever image of a black hole taken in 2019. I have always had a fascination with space and wanted to try and incorporate it into a project to add a personal sense of creativity.

The project is called ‘The Singularity’, which is the part of a black hole where matter is compressed down to an infinitely tiny point, and all conceptions of time and space completely break down.

I took images of the black hole and looked at all the colours, shape, form etc and used it to form my own narrative. I was lucky enough to meet Bence at Fashion week, where we exchanged details for any future projects that may come up where we could work together, and his work was so intricate and something I would love to work alongside.

When putting this project together, I immediately thought of Bence to collaborate with as his style perfectly fit the concept. As my project was based on the black hole and space itself, his balloon fashion highly resembled a lot of the shapes and forms in the universe I desired to excel the idea.

Bence kindly made me two accessories for the shoot that would complement the other garments, as well as the concept. They added a perfect essence to truly get my ideas across and I am grateful to have worked alongside him. Post-graduation, I am keen to recreate this shoot with a bigger budget and team to create further images at a higher production level.