By Helen Reid
PARIS, Oct 1 (Reuters) – Balenciaga creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli showed colourful tailoring and minimalist sneakers in his Summer 2027 collection at Paris Fashion Week on Thursday, a year on from his debut for the brand he is seeking to breathe new life into.
Piccioli was named to lead Balenciaga in May last year as his predecessor, Demna, moved to Gucci, part of an attempt by the brands’ parent company Kering to reverse a sharp decline in sales across the group.
Previously at Valentino, Piccioli is also tasked with reigniting interest in the brand’s womenswear after Balenciaga became more skewed towards men, and his designs have injected colour into the brand after Demna’s black leather-dominated era.
In a bright white set inside the Tennis Club de Paris, models in bomber jackets with cinched waists and high collars marched past front-row guests including American actor Sarah Pidgeon, K-pop star Juyeon, Anna Wintour and Kering chairman Francois-Henri Pinault.
Jackets in bright pink and cobalt blue created colour blocks against wide white trousers and ripped jeans, and the collection featured flowing gowns in orange and powder pink.
In his show notes, Piccioli highlighted “lightness and softness”, as well as wearability – a key aspect of every luxury brand’s new designs as they try to win back customers who have been turned off by price hikes since the pandemic.
“In a focus on how garments move and feel, a priority is inherently afforded to comfort and ease – as if in your own skin,” Piccioli wrote.
Footwear was flat and minimalist, with soft thong sandals and the slipper-like Lounge Sneaker a departure from the chunky oversized sneakers of Demna’s era. Large, supple handbags in bright shades of green, orange and blue had no visible logos.
More daring outfits included a white lace dress with ostrich-feather skirt paired with black combat boots, and a bright orange dress covered in strings of organza flowers.
(Reporting by Helen Reid; Editing by Alex Richardson)
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