Pierpaolo Piccioli made his couture debut for Balenciaga, and it was everything we hoped for.
The collection leaned into dramatic volumes, saturated colour and a strong sense of couture theatre, while still staying connected to the house’s archive. Rather than treating Balenciaga history as something to sidestep, Piccioli used it as a foundation, revisiting signatures like sculptural silhouettes, cocoon forms and the language of shape around the body.
What stood out most was the balance. The collection felt respectful of Cristóbal Balenciaga’s legacy, but it also carried Piccioli’s unmistakable hand: emotional colour, fluidity and a softer romanticism that gave the couture a more human feeling. In that sense, the show felt less like a reset than a continuation of a conversation.
It was a debut with confidence, beauty and clarity, exactly the kind of couture moment that reminds you why the format still matters.
