Good bye, Demna – and hello Pierpaolo.
Pierpaolo Piccioli’s first Balenciaga collection for Spring 2026 felt like a haute couture coronation. Reverent, sculptural, and royally coutured. But…
So ok, in returning to the house’s architectural roots, he totally overlooked Balenciaga’s appeal to the young and trendy.
Seriously, there’s nothing wrong with Piccioli’s vision of the brand, but who of the Demna Balenciaga club wouldn’t actually prefer more of those outrageous denim interpretations which made Balenciaga THE denim haute couture brand to go for?!
We checked out the whole fashion show, presented at Balenciaga’s headquarters last week. And there was a total of three denim pieces included in the whole Spring 2026 collection.
Have a look for yourself at the video below:
The denim isn’t flashy in terms of distress or extreme wash effects;. It feels more someone is reflecting on what worked before (archival, familiar shapes) rather than pushing new denim styles. Voila, come-back for skinny jeans? At Balenciaga?
Says Pierpaolo Piccioli:
“I wanted reconciliation. Culture and street. Heritage and reality. It was important that the clothes felt free, that you could just walk in them, walk out of them. Freedom is the point.“
So ok, we got the culture and heritage. Hopefully street will get it’s due attention in Piccioli’s next collections.
You can shop for Balenciaga items from the current Fall/Winter 2025 collection at FWRD, Farfetch, and at NET-A-PORTER.
