BALENCIAGA

BALENCIAGA

BALENCIAGA presents on the official Paris calendar as one of the most technically revered houses in fashion history. Founded by Cristóbal Balenciaga in 1937, the house became renowned across the mid-twentieth century for its founder’s virtually unmatched pattern-cutting skill — sculptural, architectural silhouettes including the sack dress and the balloon jacket that earned Balenciaga the nickname “the master” from peers including Christian Dior, who reportedly said fashion was like an orchestra in which Balenciaga alone was a true conductor. 

After Cristóbal Balenciaga closed the house in 1968, it passed through various ownership and design hands before Kering, then PPR, revived it in the late 1990s, eventually installing Nicolas Ghesquière as creative director through the 1997–2012 period, a tenure widely credited with restoring the house’s cultural relevance for a new generation. Demna took over as creative director in 2015, building a design language defined by exaggerated proportion, deliberately “ugly” luxury sneakers, and provocative, internet-native marketing campaigns that made Balenciaga one of the most culturally discussed — and occasionally controversial — houses of the past decade, before departing in 2024 to take the reins at Gucci. 

For S/S 2027, BALENCIAGA presents on the official calendar under its current design leadership, continuing to balance Cristóbal Balenciaga’s founding legacy of technical mastery against the house’s more recent identity as one of fashion’s most provocative cultural lightning rods.

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