Pierpaolo Piccioli is collecting fashion houses like infinity stones. The Italian designer saw most of the 90s out at the Roman casa Fendi, before defecting to Valentino in 1999 to oversee the accessories department with Maria Grazia Chiuri. The two were promoted to co-creative directors in 2008, and though Piccioli stayed in the role until 2024, he was far from done. In May this year, Kering announced that the designer would take on the storied house of Balenciaga, adding yet another luxury brand to his gauntlet. Leave some for the rest of them, PP!

Arriving amidst a sea of designer debuts (including Loewe, Mugler, Margiela and Dior) Piccolo finally revealed his new take on the house last night (October 4), doing away with Demna’s grit for a softer take on the 106-year-old maison. Here’s everything you need to know

PIERPAOLO SENT US BACK TO THE WOMB

On Paris’ rue de Sèvres, Kering’s HQ had been transformed into the inside of a womb, plunged into darkness, with only a hazy orange light glowing from one corner. The only sound was the echo of a heartbeat, pulsing around the room and building tension, while hinting at the collection’s title: The Heartbeat. In foetuses, the heart is the first organ to fully develop, so it makes sense for Piccioli to start at Balenciaga as we all begin our lives: with a pulse. “The heartbeat is the rhythm we share – the pulse that reminds us we are human. Even so, every heart beats differently,” read the show notes. Even the invitation spoke to this: an analogue cassette tape with a real recording of the designer’s own heartbeat. 

A NEW BALENCI CROWD

With every new creative director comes a fresh set of faces on the front row. While many of Balenciaga’s former crowd heads to Gucci with Demna, showing up to support Piccioli’s debut was a pretty impressive bunch, led by Meghan Markle, marking the Duchess of Sussex’s Paris Fashion Week debut. With her arrival, a new direction for the brand was cemented. Alongside the Duchess sat Tracee Ellis Ross, Anne Hathaway and Rachel Sennott (“I’ve been addicted to you for my entire life,” Sennott confessed to the Devil Wears Prada actress). Meanwhile, Stellan Skarsgård, PinkPantheress, Baz Luhrmann, Shailene Woodley, FKA Twigs, Simone Ashley and Piccioli’s dog Miranda (named after Miranda Priestly) made for a glitzy, yet unlikely, grouping. 

THERE WERE SEVERAL NODS TO CRISTÓBAL

Once the doors had closed and the room turned from dark to pitch black, Sinéad O’Connor’s instantly recognisable voice sent a chill down our spines. In keeping with the theme, the Irish singer’s 1994 single “In This Heart” filled the darkness before the first model made her entrance. Famously, black was Cristóbal Balenciaga’s favourite colour – inspired by his Spanish origins, from bullfighter costumes to mourning gowns – so naturally, the shade dominated the first half of Piccioli’s debut. 

The opening look brought together multiple eras of the house. A straight-up and down black evening dress that eliminated the waist, a nod to Cristóbal Balenciaga’s infamous 1957 Sack dress, created as an alternative to Christian Dior’s waist-synching New Look. In Piccioli’s collection, the dress was paired with white opera gloves and comically large, Demna-esque diamond-encrusted sunglasses.

DEMNA WHO?

Though Piccioli might have brought Demna’s exaggerated eyewear into the house’s new chapter, the former designer’s streetwear edge was overridden by a new softness. Like Miguel Castro Freitas’ debut at Mugler earlier in the week, the new Balenciaga woman has matured; she’s grown out of her Berghain days and now hosts soirées at her Lake Como villa. The highlight of the collection was the evening wear, and if his tenure at Valentino taught us anything, it’s that Piccioli knows how to do a good gown. 

More iterations of the Sack dress made their way down the catwalk, as did dramatic skirts made from Cristóbal’s signature gazar fabric, giving them a puffed, sculptural silhouette. However, surprisingly, they were often styled with a wedge flip-flop. The closing look was a strapless blush pink evening gown that shared its shape with a squid, but was beautiful nonetheless. 

PIERPAOLO HEARTS LAURYN

After attending Sarah Burton’s sophomore Givenchy show this season, Raye made a reappearance at Balenciaga via the soundtrack (“Feeling Good”), followed by Lauryn Hill’s  “Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You”. Along with Schiaparelli’s Aaliyah-infused playlist, it’s been a pretty solid season for soundtracks (although we’re not sure if we can count the adorable, yet out-of-tune, children’s orchestra at Margiela in that). 

THE METHOD BEHIND THE MAN

In a post-show note, the house clarified some of Piccioli’s intentions with his debut collection. “The meaning of Balenciaga is a methodology,“ it read, “the process of creation as ideology, as identity, an expression of humanity and human invention. The debut collection by Pierpaolo Piccioli commemorates this essential component of the maison.” The note went on to argue that what might have come across as aesthetically austere in the collection actually “belies a physical lightness”, and Piccioli’s penchant for sculptural forms was inspired by air as “a third dimension” between fabric and body. He called this a “vital component” of the collection’s construction.

Scroll through the gallery at the top of the page to see Piccioli’s entire debut collection