Last night, Kering announced that Pierpaolo Piccioli—fresh off his long and luminous run at Valentino—will be taking the reins at Balenciaga as its creative director. His appointment comes two months after Demna’s 10-year stint at the couture label founded by Cristóbal Balenciaga ended. Piccioli, a maestro of romance and radical softness, stepping into one of fashion’s most confrontational houses? The news felt seismic. Full disclosure: I’m a die-hard PP devotee. And I had thoughts.
He is fluent in Balenciaga-isms
When Piccioli first joined Instagram ahead of the 2018 Met Gala, his debut post was a 1967 wedding dress by Cristóbal Balenciaga. “Don’t know if I should take it as a sign,” he wrote. “What I know is that now I can see the bigger picture.” That picture may now be considered a premonition. As Laird Borrelli-Persson, senior archive editor at Vogue, illustrated in a side-by-side comparison of their works, Piccioli is already fluent in the founder’s visual language. Balenciaga—once the gold standard of haute couture and now a house with a revitalised couture line (which restarted in 2019)—has much to gain from his architectural eye and reverence for craft. Expect more colour (Cristóbal loved it too), drama in silhouette, and maybe even some spiritual continuity.
What happens to streetwear?
Under Demna, Balenciaga became synonymous with streetwear. In fact, its ready-to-wear was so focused on streetwear that for a whole generation of young consumers who were introduced to the brand during his tenure, it was the streetwear brand. While it’s unlikely that Piccioli will abandon that language entirely—logo tees and hoodies still have their place—he’ll almost certainly reframe it. We’re thinking silk shirts overdosing on the Balenciaga monogram. Less post-apocalyptic Berlin rave, more poets in puffers. (Remember Piccioli’s sumptuous puffer dresses for the Moncler Genius project? And the custom Valentino ensemble he made for Billie Eilish!)
Goodbye gimmicks
Will we ever see a roll of tape posing as a bangle for $3,300 again? Unlikely. Demna’s Balenciaga shocked people and often felt like a social experiment. Given how saturated the world of fashion is with shticks (specifically, how ridden with controversy Balenciaga has been in the past few years), Piccioli’s appointment reads as a strategic palate cleanse—a direction that only seems logical at this point. He brings emotionality, elegance, and the promise of actual clothing. Also: a much-needed breather for Kering’s press and crisis management teams.
Power remains within the circle of white men
Let’s be real. With Alessandro Michele at Valentino, Demna at Gucci, and now Piccioli at Balenciaga, we’re seeing the same game of musical chairs played by the same men. As fashion commentator Ashantéa Austin pointed out, Martine Rose would have been a dream choice here—someone who could have transitioned Balenciaga out of the Demna era without a total reset. (Rose was brought on board by Demna to formulate the menswear line.) In the past year, only one person of colour has been appointed as creative director of a major fashion brand (A$AP Rocky at Ray-Ban, if that even counts). The cycle continues.
Romance returns to the runway
After years of ironic detachment, this signals a shift. Piccioli believes in beauty without cynicism—his Valentino shows were love letters to humanity. What happens when that sensibility meets the stark, Brutalist DNA of Balenciaga? We might finally get pathos alongside power shoulders. A little less nihilism. A little more heart. Balenciaga might actually make us cry on purpose now.
