Should We Expect the Return of Beauty at Balenciaga?

From disruption to grace, elegance is reinstated as Pierpaolo Piccioli takes the reins at Balenciaga. His first collection arrives in October 2025.

By Sean Castelo III May 21, 2025

Irony to Intimacy, Disruption to Desire

For nearly a decade, Demna built Balenciaga into fashion’s ultimate disruptor—hyper-self-aware, intentionally jarring, sometimes caustic. Irony, crudeness, and dystopia were the dominant themes throughout the house, which he transformed into a meme factory and a conceptual exercise. But what happens when shock becomes the typical? When does subversion become predictable? Fashion, in its most potent form, should stir. But it should also seduce.

Piccioli’s decade-plus tenure at Valentino was an ode to grandeur, grace, and feeling. His aesthetic language is distinct: big, sculptural volumes that float rather than impose; rich, emotive color palettes; embroidery as a form of textural blush. Where Demna disassembled silhouettes, Piccioli insisted on individuality with emotional resonance.

^{Valentino FW18, PRE-FALL 19, COUTURE FW19}

Yet, their visions are not incompatible. During his time at Valentino, Piccioli often touched on silhouettes that echoed Cristóbal Balenciaga himself: cloaks that hovered off the body, bell-shaped gowns that defied gravity, and dramatic, almost ecclesiastical forms that called to mind Balenciaga’s archival majesty. His haute couture collections, particularly, carried a sculpturality that Balenciaga once defined: fashion as architecture in motion.

The Thrill of Beauty

If beauty is defined by feeling—by awe, vulnerability, power—then Piccioli is its most persuasive advocate. His vision of beauty isn’t saccharine or regressive; it’s sharp, radical, and deliberate. It centers the wearer not as a product, but as a person.

^{Valentino PRE-fall 19, Couture FW22, FW23}

Balenciaga, under Demna, often asked what fashion could provoke. Under Piccioli, it might ask what fashion can mean. Perhaps the most subversive move now—the most unpredictable—is to return to elegance. To make clothes that are not worn for irony, but felt for intimacy.

Valentino fw19, FW23 — ^{Valentino fw19, fw23}

Pierpaolo Piccioli at Balenciaga could mark the start of something startling in its simplicity: Not as escape, not as irony, but as exactly what it should be: beautiful.

Photos: VALENTINO; PIERPAOLO PICCIOLI (via Instagram)