Balenciaga by Pierpaolo Piccioli Spring Summer 2026 “The Heartbeat”. Story by Eleonora de Gray, Editor-in-Chief of RUNWAY MAGAZINE. Photo Courtesy: Balenciaga.

The Revival of Cristóbal’s Rhythm by Pierpaolo Piccioli

It is rare—almost mythological—when a house doesn’t just show a collection, but comes back to life.

Today, Balenciaga did just that.

Spring Summer 2026 marked the long-awaited debut of Pierpaolo Piccioli at the helm of Balenciaga Haute Couture. This was a homecoming — to the legacy of Cristóbal Balenciaga, the architect of modern couture, whose heartbeat had grown faint in recent years, buried under cynical branding exercises in trash bags.

Today, it thundered back.

“The heartbeat is the rhythm we share—the pulse that reminds us we are human. Even so, every heart beats differently,”
— Pierpaolo Piccioli

With those words, Pierpaolo framed a collection that was not only a sartorial statement but a spiritual reconnection.
The house’s pulse is audible in every hem, every seam, every feathered flourish.

A Contemporary Couture Revival

Piccioli brought with him what he does best: romanticism without nostalgia, craftsmanship without pretension. His gowns bloomed with silk flowers—so delicate, they seemed to exhale. The color palette swayed between grace and audacity: celadon green, melancholic violets, marigold, ink black—tones not meant to shock but to stir.

And then, the hats.

The feathered headpieces — vibrant, sculptural, whimsical — seemed at first like a nod to 1960s couture hats. But upon closer view, each one subtly revealed a baseball cap structure beneath. It wasn’t ironic. It wasn’t a provocation. It was a masterstroke — a detail that grounded fantasy in reality, elegance in movement.

Only Pierpaolo Piccioli could have imagined this. Not a quote from the past, not a clash with the present — but a seamless creation of his own vocabulary.

The Audience and the Absence

Front row: Anne Hathaway, luminous. Isabelle Huppert, a study in cinematic elegance, gloved in opera green. And — in a quietly political appearance — Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, unbothered by protocol.

But the most piercing presence was not seated. It was in the eyes of Giancarlo Giammetti, longtime partner of Valentino Garavani, seated in silence. Because this show was also a requiem: for the house that once cradled Piccioli’s genius, only to discard it for Valentino x Vans sneakers melting somewhere in public toilet, and overused Karl Lagerfeld cat.

No matter how loudly François-Henri Pinault might wish to rewrite fashion’s inheritance, today’s truth was this: the Valentino’s legacy is gone.
Balenciaga now began to breath.

From Chou Noir to Now

The collection did not treat the archives as sacred relics or nostalgic blueprints. Instead, they became a foundation — a platform upon which Pierpaolo Piccioli could build something entirely his own. The legendary Chou Noir, the Envelope Dress, the voluminous sleeves — they were not reimagined as theatrical tributes. They were transformed into modern couture.

With precision and grace, Pierpaolo lent his own heartbeat to these silhouettes — not to resuscitate the past, but to make it present. Every cut bore his hand. Every flourish carried his vision. The result was not a return to form, but an evolution of form — alive, current, and unmistakably his.

A New Rhythm Begins

With “The Heartbeat,” Pierpaolo Piccioli did not just debut at Balenciaga. He reclaimed the right of Haute Couture to feel, to move, to live.

It was a pulse — and finally, it beats again.

See All Looks Balenciaga by Pierpaolo Piccioli Spring Summer 2026