A father of a child who posed in the controversial Balenciaga advert has spoken out in defense of the shoot, claiming his child had a "fantastic time".
The French fashion brand has come under fire recently following a recent advert for the Paris Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2023 collection, which featured child models posing with the brand's teddy bear handbags, per the New York Post.
The outrage came after viewers noticed that the toys the children were holding were seemingly dressed in bondage and BDSM gear. This included fishnet tops and collars with locks.
This prompted Kim Kardashian - who has a professional relationship with the brand - to speak out. The reality star revealed on Twitter that she was "disturbed" by the images. She continued: "The safety of children must be held with the highest regard and any attempts to normalize child abuse of any kind should have no place in our society — period."
Since the scandal, an unnamed father of one of the children has spoken out in defense of the shoot. He told the Daily Mail that he was present at the shoot and that his daughter had a "fantastic time".
He went on to claim that the shoot had been taken "totally out of context" and that: "No parent would actively encourage the child to take part in something which was pornographic, and I think the publicity surrounding what happened has been blown out of all proportion."
The photographer of the shoot, Gabriele Galimberti, came under fire for his involvement, but the father also jumped to his defense. "I feel desperately sorry for Gabriele," he said. "This had nothing directly to do with him and he was merely taking the photographs as requested by Balenciaga. The parents of the children were at the shoot and they approved of what took place."
He continued: "He is innocent and has been drawn into all this unfairly. It was a really enjoyable day but it has now all been ruined because people have taken it all out of context and created an international media storm."
"If I felt at any time that it was inappropriate, I would have stepped in and I'm sure the other parents would have done the same, but no one did," the father concluded.
The fashion brand has since deleted all the images from its website and has launched an investigation into the shoot. An apology was also posted on Instagram.
"We strongly condemn child abuse; it was never our intent to include it in the narrative," it read. "This was a wrong choice by Balenciaga, combined with our failure in assessing and validating images.
"The responsibility for this lies with Balenciaga alone."
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