Pierpaolo Piccioli makes his highly anticipated debut as Balenciaga’s creative director, unveiling a Haute Couture collection that replaces provocation with colour, craftsmanship and a renewed sense of beauty.
By Ada Maria Francesca Romeo
Balenciaga’s 55th Haute Couture show marked a new beginning for the maison, presenting Pierpaolo Piccioli‘s first collection since taking over as creative director, almost a year after the end of Demna‘s era. One of the most anticipated debuts of the season, it set out to redefine the brand’s language through an aesthetic that stands at the opposite end of the spectrum. While Demna explored the more conceptual and darker aspects of Cristóbal Balenciaga‘s legacy, Piccioli embraces a vision rooted in humanity, colour and emotion.
Images courtesy of Balenciaga
The show unfolded in the gardens of the Cité Universitaire on a bright Parisian summer morning. Bathed in natural sunlight, the collection’s vibrant palette came to life as shades of pink, green, red, purple alongside black and white, illuminated the runway. Rather than simply revisiting the house archives, Piccioli dusts them off and reinterprets them through a contemporary lens, moving away from the provocative approach that had defined the brand in recent years.
Images courtesy of Balenciaga
Cristóbal Balenciaga’s legacy remains unmistakable in the sculpted shoulders, suspended volumes and architectural precision of the silhouettes. At the same time, Piccioli’s own signature is immediately recognisable through a softer, more contemporary sensibility.
Rather than pursuing shock value, Piccioli shifts the focus back to couture as an expression of human craftsmanship. The Roman designer revealed that he began working with the house’s ateliers many months before the show, with the goal of building a shared creative language and fully understanding the methods of French haute couture.
Images courtesy of Balenciaga
From the dialogue between his own vision and Balenciaga’s sartorial heritage emerged a collection that places the people and the hands behind every garment back at the centre of the conversation. The craftsmanship is reflected in extraordinary details, including 24,150 satin feathers individually cut and attached using jewellery-making techniques, and 8,000 hand-painted petals applied one by one to a single gown, showcasing a level of artistry and precision that belongs exclusively to haute couture.
Images courtesy of Balenciaga
Another highlight of the show was the return of Gigi Hadid to the runway, a presence that has become increasingly rare in recent years. Her appearance made an already memorable debut even more significant, reinforcing the sense that a new chapter has begun for Balenciaga.
Images courtesy of Balenciaga
With his first Haute Couture collection for Balenciaga, Pierpaolo Piccioli brought a renewed vision of beauty to the runway. A beauty that looks to the future rather than the past, needing no provocation to make its mark, but instead finding its strength in emotion and colour, brought to life by the warm light of a Parisian garden.
