BALENCIAGA unveiled its 55th Couture Collection, marking the first Couture presentation by Creative Director Pierpaolo Piccioli for the House.
Courtesy of Balenciaga
For his debut Couture collection at Balenciaga, Piccioli was not concerned with revisiting archival silhouettes or reproducing the House's most recognizable signatures. Instead, he turned his attention to the principles that have long defined Balenciaga as a couture house: its methods, its values, and Couture itself as a métier.
Courtesy of Balenciaga
One sentence from the collection notes serves as a key to understanding the season:
“Change comes from within.”
Newness, in Piccioli's vision, does not begin with surface decoration. It emerges from construction, materiality, cutting, draping, and the hands of the people working inside the atelier. What he proposes is not a new image of Couture, but a reconsideration of its foundations.
In the collection notes, Couture is described as a form of “information.”
Here, information is not data or technical knowledge alone. It is a system of values that guides decisions, shapes creative processes, and reflects both the identity of the House and the spirit of the present moment.
Courtesy of Balenciaga
For Piccioli, Couture is not an isolated practice reserved for a select clientele. Rather, it functions as the experimental core of the House—a space where new ideas, techniques, and possibilities are developed.
Couture is not simply about presenting a perfected dream. It is also a tool for imagining what comes next.
Among the defining pieces of the collection are tailored coats and dresses crafted in cashmere.
Their creation begins with three-dimensional digital scans of each wearer. Beyond physical measurements, these scans capture posture, attitude, and presence, which are then translated into internal leather constructions that shape the garment from within.
Courtesy of Balenciaga
Rather than displaying structure externally, the collection conceals strength beneath the surface. Embellishments are often hidden inside hems and lapels, revealing themselves only through movement and proximity.
Courtesy of Balenciaga
The result recalls the duality that characterized Cristóbal Balenciaga's work: rigorous discipline paired with extraordinary richness of expression.
Here, change does not mean replacing the past with a new appearance. It means transforming the garment from its unseen foundations.
Innovation in materials has always been central to Balenciaga.
This season introduces AMSilk, a next-generation silk alternative developed through advanced bioengineering. Produced through protein engineering and DNA-based technologies, the renewable fiber offers exceptional strength while avoiding the use of fossil fuels.
Courtesy of Balenciaga
Alongside it appears Neo Gazar, a reinterpretation of the gazar fabric originally developed by Cristóbal Balenciaga.
Rather than functioning solely as an exterior textile, Neo Gazar is integrated into the internal architecture of garments, helping define their silhouette while maintaining remarkable lightness.
Courtesy of Balenciaga
Tradition, here, is not something to preserve unchanged. It is something to understand, challenge, and evolve through contemporary technologies and new ways of thinking about the body.
Several looks appear twice throughout the collection.
They are first shown in their original colors and materials, then return entirely in black, reduced almost to shadows of themselves.
Courtesy of Balenciaga
By stripping away color and surface effects, attention shifts toward form alone. The viewer is invited to focus on silhouette, proportion, and construction.
Courtesy of Balenciaga
Balenciaga Couture has never been intended as a frontal image. Its meaning unfolds through movement and from every angle. The garments exist as three-dimensional forms, closer to sculpture than static objects.
Piccioli has spoken about history as something that belongs to the past and cannot simply be recreated.
For that reason, this collection does not seek to reproduce Cristóbal Balenciaga's most famous creations. Instead, it returns to the questions that occupied him throughout his career: the relationship between body, garment, and form.
Courtesy of Balenciaga
Tailoring and flou coexist within the same looks. Structure meets fluidity. Discipline meets lightness.
Courtesy of Balenciaga
Inheritance, in this context, is not repetition. It is the ability to engage with the convictions that shaped the past and reinterpret them through the language of the present.
In his accompanying message, Piccioli describes the collection as the result of many different voices and shared experiences.
Through the process of making it, people learned from one another and built a common language connecting inherited knowledge with new ideas.
Courtesy of Balenciaga
As he writes:
“This collection is made by the people working in the atelier. They are Couture. Because Couture is made by the people who live it.”
Courtesy of Balenciaga
The protagonists of this collection are therefore not only its new Creative Director, but also the pattern makers, cutters, drapers, embroiderers, researchers, and artisans whose expertise transforms ideas into reality.
Couture is not an abstract concept. It exists through time, skill, dedication, and human hands.
Pierpaolo Piccioli's first Couture collection for Balenciaga does not announce change through spectacle.
Instead, it proposes a transformation rooted in construction, materials, craftsmanship, and collective creation.
“This is our collection. This is our work. This is Balenciaga Couture now.”
Courtesy of Balenciaga
Those words suggest that this is not simply the beginning of a new designer's era. Rather, it is the meeting point between Cristóbal Balenciaga's legacy, the expertise of today's ateliers, and Piccioli's own vision.
Change is not imposed from the outside.
Balenciaga's 55th Couture Collection demonstrates that it begins from within.
Contact
Balenciaga Client Services
TEL: +81 120-992-136 (Toll-free within Japan)
Courtesy of BalenciagaFor his debut Couture collection at Balenciaga, Piccioli was not concerned with revisiting archival silhouettes or reproducing the House's most recognizable signatures. Instead, he turned his attention to the principles that have long defined Balenciaga as a couture house: its methods, its values, and Couture itself as a métier.
Courtesy of BalenciagaOne sentence from the collection notes serves as a key to understanding the season:
“Change comes from within.”
Newness, in Piccioli's vision, does not begin with surface decoration. It emerges from construction, materiality, cutting, draping, and the hands of the people working inside the atelier. What he proposes is not a new image of Couture, but a reconsideration of its foundations.
Couture as Information
In the collection notes, Couture is described as a form of “information.”
Here, information is not data or technical knowledge alone. It is a system of values that guides decisions, shapes creative processes, and reflects both the identity of the House and the spirit of the present moment.
Courtesy of BalenciagaFor Piccioli, Couture is not an isolated practice reserved for a select clientele. Rather, it functions as the experimental core of the House—a space where new ideas, techniques, and possibilities are developed.
Couture is not simply about presenting a perfected dream. It is also a tool for imagining what comes next.
Change Begins Inside the Garment
Among the defining pieces of the collection are tailored coats and dresses crafted in cashmere.
Their creation begins with three-dimensional digital scans of each wearer. Beyond physical measurements, these scans capture posture, attitude, and presence, which are then translated into internal leather constructions that shape the garment from within.
Courtesy of BalenciagaRather than displaying structure externally, the collection conceals strength beneath the surface. Embellishments are often hidden inside hems and lapels, revealing themselves only through movement and proximity.
Courtesy of BalenciagaThe result recalls the duality that characterized Cristóbal Balenciaga's work: rigorous discipline paired with extraordinary richness of expression.
Here, change does not mean replacing the past with a new appearance. It means transforming the garment from its unseen foundations.
Neo Gazar and AMSilk
Innovation in materials has always been central to Balenciaga.
This season introduces AMSilk, a next-generation silk alternative developed through advanced bioengineering. Produced through protein engineering and DNA-based technologies, the renewable fiber offers exceptional strength while avoiding the use of fossil fuels.
Courtesy of BalenciagaAlongside it appears Neo Gazar, a reinterpretation of the gazar fabric originally developed by Cristóbal Balenciaga.
Rather than functioning solely as an exterior textile, Neo Gazar is integrated into the internal architecture of garments, helping define their silhouette while maintaining remarkable lightness.
Courtesy of BalenciagaTradition, here, is not something to preserve unchanged. It is something to understand, challenge, and evolve through contemporary technologies and new ways of thinking about the body.
When Form Remains
Several looks appear twice throughout the collection.
They are first shown in their original colors and materials, then return entirely in black, reduced almost to shadows of themselves.
Courtesy of BalenciagaBy stripping away color and surface effects, attention shifts toward form alone. The viewer is invited to focus on silhouette, proportion, and construction.
Courtesy of BalenciagaBalenciaga Couture has never been intended as a frontal image. Its meaning unfolds through movement and from every angle. The garments exist as three-dimensional forms, closer to sculpture than static objects.
Not Reproducing History, but Responding to It
Piccioli has spoken about history as something that belongs to the past and cannot simply be recreated.
For that reason, this collection does not seek to reproduce Cristóbal Balenciaga's most famous creations. Instead, it returns to the questions that occupied him throughout his career: the relationship between body, garment, and form.
Courtesy of BalenciagaTailoring and flou coexist within the same looks. Structure meets fluidity. Discipline meets lightness.
Courtesy of BalenciagaInheritance, in this context, is not repetition. It is the ability to engage with the convictions that shaped the past and reinterpret them through the language of the present.
The People Who Make Couture
In his accompanying message, Piccioli describes the collection as the result of many different voices and shared experiences.
Through the process of making it, people learned from one another and built a common language connecting inherited knowledge with new ideas.
Courtesy of BalenciagaAs he writes:
“This collection is made by the people working in the atelier. They are Couture. Because Couture is made by the people who live it.”
Courtesy of BalenciagaThe protagonists of this collection are therefore not only its new Creative Director, but also the pattern makers, cutters, drapers, embroiderers, researchers, and artisans whose expertise transforms ideas into reality.
Couture is not an abstract concept. It exists through time, skill, dedication, and human hands.
This Is Balenciaga Couture Now
Pierpaolo Piccioli's first Couture collection for Balenciaga does not announce change through spectacle.
Instead, it proposes a transformation rooted in construction, materials, craftsmanship, and collective creation.
“This is our collection. This is our work. This is Balenciaga Couture now.”
Courtesy of BalenciagaThose words suggest that this is not simply the beginning of a new designer's era. Rather, it is the meeting point between Cristóbal Balenciaga's legacy, the expertise of today's ateliers, and Piccioli's own vision.
Change is not imposed from the outside.
Balenciaga's 55th Couture Collection demonstrates that it begins from within.
Contact
Balenciaga Client Services
TEL: +81 120-992-136 (Toll-free within Japan)
![Our Fashion Story [vol.30_DRIES VAN NOTEN × Becoming ── Between Youth and Adulthood]](https://wrqc9vvfhu8e.global.ssl.fastly.net/api/image/crop/533x712/images/upload/2026/07/01b99a206fd73cfa2ca8ee93cc6d537a.jpg)
