Pierpaolo Piccioli has a tough job at Balenciaga. Heading a brand as big as this one comes with responsibilities that include pleasing shoppers who, prior to his arrival, were buying a very different aesthetic than the one the house is traditionally known for, and satisfying buyers who desire a return to the Balenciaga of yore, back when its founder, Cristóbal Balenciaga, established the House’s codes. Piccioli’s work is elegant, refined, and sophisticated, which is why so many Balenciaga traditionalists praised the brand’s choice to bring him on. Demna—who left in 2025 and is now the creative director at Gucci—followed a more alt direction during his decade-long tenure at the brand, leaning into streetwear and grunge-forward style. This is what makes Piccioli’s task at hand such a difficult one. He has to meet the demands of both groups, not isolating those who’ve been shopping from the brand these last ten years, while also bringing in new (or returning) customers who desire a look that’s more in line with Cristóbal’s original vision.
Piccioli, who debuted his sophomore collection for Balenciaga this weekend during Paris Fashion Week, did just that, easing into his still-new position by checking off both customer bases’ core boxes. According to the collection notes, “the centrality of and focus on the human form” for fall 2026 expanded the methodologies of Cristóbal Balenciaga, with “the body itself [becoming] the structure inside garments.” The couturiers’ influence continued in the formal gowns that were strewn throughout the 81-look offering, ranging from beaded and sequined numbers that glittered with every step to equally elegant but less intricate draped, jersey options that revealed bits of skin and hugged the body in all the right places. Also featured, though, were casual, laid-back ensembles with leggings and cigarette jeans as focal points, styled with furry outerwear and voluminous leather bomber jackets in bright, daring shades—nods back to the streetwear many have come to associate with Balenciaga of late.
“Different generations walk together, in clothes created to sumbiotically fuse them as a collective power yet celebrate them as individual forces, united in being,” the collection notes state. The Balenciaga of old and new found a home in the fall/winter 2026 offering, ushering in an entirely new era for the House Cristóbal built that blends both.
Scroll down to read (and see) more about Balenciaga’s fall/winter 2026 collection.
What is ClairObscur?
This aforementioned sense of duality also showed itself in an entirely different way in the collection. The fall/winter 2026 offering was titled ClairObscur, in reference to a High Renaissance art technique of the same name that explores the tension between darkness and light. “Light defined by its shadow, darkness always relieved with light,” the collection notes describe. “The collection finds an interplay in these inherent antinomies, the certitude and truth that one cannot exist without the other.” Clair-obscur effects can be seen on handbags, like the Midnight City and HG Avenue bag, as well as D’Orsay sneakers and expertly draped gowns.
Euphoria x Balenciaga
Anyone excited about the long-awaited new season of Euphoria got a hint at what’s to come when the series returns at the Balenciaga show. Piccioli teamed up with Euphoria creator Sam Levinson for the event, creating a backdrop for the collection’s reveal that included clips from the forthcoming third season. To add emphasis to the collaboration, the soundtrack for the runway show featured tracks by one of Euphoria‘s newest cast members, Rosalía, and Labrinth, the singer-songwriter responsible for some of the show’s most iconic scores, while another newcomer to the series, Danielle Deadwyler, sat front row and was featured on prints throughout the collection. Deadwyler also read out a line of text to kick off the show: “The forms of bodies could not be understood in detail, but for shadow—shadows are created by light.”
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