Balenciaga: Pierpaolo Piccioli lets fashion grow like coral
At the Tennis Club de Paris, Balenciaga showed 'Les Coraux de la Liberté': volumes after Cristóbal Balenciaga, bias-cut jeans and a ballgown that is really a T-shirt.
Photo: Bita RmJohnson Liuosa / Wikimedia Commons, CC0 (cropped and resized)
Video: YouTube · Balenciaga · youtube.com
Balenciaga presented its women's and men's Spring/Summer 2027 collection at the Tennis Club de Paris on 1 October. Creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli titled it "Les Coraux de la Liberté" – "The Corals of Freedom" – after a textile work by French artist Aude Franjou, which stood as a monumental sculpture in the middle of the runway. The shapes follow corals and other seabed life: fringes, full skirts, fluid cargo trousers and sheer dresses.
Piccioli applied the founder's volumes and couture methods to sportswear, denim and tailoring. Corset stitching normally hidden inside lapels sits on the outside of leather jackets and T-shirts, while jeans and men's suits are bias-cut. "Balenciaga never really did this," Piccioli acknowledged, according to AnOther Magazine. A pale pink taffeta ballgown worn over jeans turned out to be a supersized T-shirt.
The palette runs from off-white through fuchsia and coral orange to chocolate brown, with black as a counterpoint. Balenciaga has published the show on its YouTube channel.