Pierpaolo Piccioli's Debut Balenciaga Couture Collection Is All About Intention

On Wednesday morning in the 14th arrondissement of Paris, Pierpaolo Piccioli presented his first-ever couture collection for Balenciaga since joining the house as creative director in May 2025. Set on a dramatic staircase bordered by lush, regal-like landscaping at the Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris, the designer set out to embrace Balenciaga’s “principles,” as described in the show’s notes.

“Couture as information — a manner of creation that may orientate both the actions and reactions of a house,” Piccioli wrote. “A territory for experimentation and engineering, it can be a prism through which to witness both the current moment, and the identity of Balenciaga. A fundamentalism — couture here is once again placed at the center of the house’s meaning, shaping its being.”

Before his current role at Balenciaga, Piccioli, of course, led Valentino’s design team from 2008 to 2024 — initially sharing the responsibility with Maria Grazia Chiuri until 2016. There, he churned out 15 haute couture collections, seven of which he was the sole creative director. Remnants of his most beloved (and viral) couture looks can be seen in his new work for Balenciaga, such as his signature splashes of vivid pink. A variety of rosy hues were sprinkled throughout the collection’s entirety, in both blink-and-you-might-miss-it details and full monochromatic ensembles.

There are also lots of ostrich feather embellishments — a technique he’s historically embraced, particularly for Valentino Haute Couture Spring 2023 and Fall 2022. In the past, vibrant, spherical headpieces acted as a cage around models’ heads; elongated neon-dyed quills completed oversized sunglasses; and tightly combined bunches of bright pluckings made for long dusters and cropped boleros. For the Balenciaga-ified version, Piccioli reimagined the material as the fringe of lime green wool coats, in a thneed-like baby pink gown, and in an extra-large, egg-shaped garment with no sleeves — as modeled by Gigi Hadid.

“The achievement of impossibilities. Feathers are a metaphor — weightless, delicate, yet with tensile strength,” Piccioli continued in his notes. “Embroideries become structural, integral. A collaboration with Philip Treacy results in sculptural forms in feather that question the boundaries between millinery and garment.”

To a stripped-down, acoustic rendition of Selena’s 1995 track “I Could Fall In Love,” more standout looks emerged on the runway, including entirely sheer chiffon hooded dresses with white fluffy bustles, sporty takes on turquoise turtlenecks paired with high-low maxi skirts, blazers coupled with voluminous ballgowns, and straight-cut jumpsuits with dramatic plunging necklines.

“History is past, there is no rigid translation — yet all reflects the ideology of Cristóbal Balenciaga, resonates with his meaning,” the notes read. “A reconsideration of the body, its form, its rapport with a garment. A fundamentalism, an echo of belief systems, rather than superficiality ... Balenciaga’s obsession with three-dimensionalities, with couture as true sculpture, results in forms that must be viewed in 360-degrees to be truly understood.”

Below, see more highlights from Balenciaga’s 55th Couture Collection.