Pierpaolo Piccioli leaves Balenciaga after a little over a year

Pierpaolo Piccioli is leaving his role as creative director of Balenciaga, a little over a year after joining the house in July 2025. Kering confirmed the news after weeks of rumours on social media, a little more than a month after the designer presented his Spring/Summer 2027 collection at Paris Fashion Week. The group has not named a successor.

What Balenciaga and Kering said

Both the house and its parent group thanked the Italian designer in their statements.

"We are deeply grateful to Pierpaolo for his contribution to Balenciaga. Through his vision, he reaffirmed the couture origins of the house, bringing his distinctive approach to craftsmanship, construction and creativity. I would like to sincerely thank him for the dedication, generosity and spirit of collaboration he has shown", said Gianfranco Gianangeli, president and CEO of Balenciaga.

"Pierpaolo is an extraordinary couturier and a creative talent for whom we have the deepest respect. Our ambition is to carry forward Balenciaga's avant-garde spirit, to build on its exceptional heritage and to keep pushing the boundaries of creativity, strengthening the role of the house as an authoritative and relevant reference in today's cultural and creative landscape", said Luca de Meo, CEO of Kering.

Why Piccioli leaves Balenciaga after one year

Neither statement gives a reason for the departure. What is clear is that the role was never a simple one. Piccioli had to follow Demna, whose ten years at the house shaped its image well beyond fashion, and at the same time respect the legacy of founder Cristóbal Balenciaga. Demna closed his tenure in July 2025 with a haute couture show at the atelier on Avenue George V before moving to Gucci.

Piccioli's year at Balenciaga

The designer arrived after 25 years at Valentino, where he became known for bold colour, rich fabrics and attention to the people wearing the clothes. His first campaign for Balenciaga, photographed by David Sims at the Hôtel de Maisons in Paris with models Mona Tougaard and Sandra Murray, came out in October 2025, weeks before his runway debut.

His first collection, for Spring/Summer 2026, moved the house away from streetwear and the dystopian mood of recent seasons. Volumes were more controlled, and the research focused on the body and on Cristóbal Balenciaga's way of letting fabric and air work together rather than building rigid structures. In July 2026 Piccioli showed his first haute couture collection for the house, with sculpted volumes, tailoring and work from the Balenciaga atelier, less confrontational than the seasons before but still ambitious.

The Spring/Summer 2027 collection, shown in Paris this autumn, now turns out to be his last.

What comes next for Balenciaga

The announcement reopens the question of succession at one of Kering's main houses. For now, the group has only said it wants to keep the avant-garde spirit and heritage of Balenciaga at the centre, without saying who will take over the creative direction or when.