All eyes were on Pierpaolo Piccioli this Haute Couture Week as he released his first couture collection for the maison a year after taking the helm. Piccioli has impressed the fashion world by deftly reimagining Balenciaga in a manner that reincorporates founder Cristóbal Balenciaga’s historic codes while remaining distinctly contemporary. This couture collection, Balenciaga's 55th, was no different: strikingly sculptural silhouettes, including Look 4, harkened back to the archives, while innovative techniques and delightfully vivid colors positioned the looks clearly in the present, as seen in Look 22.
A New Language Based on Emotion
“This collection was based on a feeling,” Pierpaolo told guests. “We worked while getting to know each other, learning to understand one another. We built our own language, full of new words and timeless ones.” The transition to this new era has doubtless been a feeling-out process, especially in the wake of ten years under the distinctive and forceful personality of Demna. However, Pierpaolo looks increasingly confident each season, deconstructing one brand identity and gradually elucidating a new vision in which supporters of the maison from all of its eras can recognize at least something of themselves. This collection came from a place of true passion; as Pierpaolo said, “it was the work of human beings in the atelier, human beings who are couture — because couture is the people who live it.” Yet it was also rooted in precision and scientific innovation. For example, it featured the launch of AMSilk, a bioengineered, fossil-fuel-free silk that appears delicate but has a tensile strength twice that of steel.
Farida Khelfa, Teyana Taylor, and Michelle Randolph were among those in attendance for this historic show. They nodded in approval as the first look — a simple white blouse with an elaborately plumed jacket, reminiscent of both an eagle’s wings and Cristóbal Balenciaga’s 1960s silhouettes — proceeded down the runway. Oversized shoulders were a major theme, several seeming to have leapt straight from the archives, as seen in Looks 44 and 48. So too were furry and feathered looks, such as Look 51’s white swan, Look 44’s pink extravaganza, and Look 22’s covetous lavender pants paired with an oversized butter-yellow blazer.
This fashion season saw record-high temperatures across Paris. With their extensive layering and heavy fabrics, many collections felt anachronistic in both Spring/Summer context and runway setting. Balenciaga was not one of them. Slightly oversized looks, including one with an ingenious collar extending away from the body, felt comfortable, flowing, and lightweight, especially in Looks 7, 13, and 17. Radiant shades of blue, green, and burgundy in Looks 33, 40, and 41 felt picture-perfect for the most glamorous of garden parties.
A new era of Balenciaga couture is here, and Pierpaolo Piccioli is meeting the moment with infectious joy and passion. One of the season’s most anticipated collections not only lived up to expectations but suggested a maison newly fluent in its past and newly alive to the present.
