Demna successor: New Balenciaga creative chief comes from Valentino

The French fashion house Balenciaga is artistically repositioning itself: After the output of the controversial designer Demna Gvasalia (44), the Italian Pierpfaolo Piccioli (56) takes over the creative direction of the house, as the mother group kering announced.

The former Valentino creative director is scheduled to get started on July 10, and his first collection is to be presented in October at the Paris fashion week.

Piccioli worked for Valentino for over two decades and shaped the brand with a poetic-romantic style, often colorful and inclusive.

His aesthetics are likely to be closer to the roots of the founder of the house, the Basque Couturier Cristóbal Balenciaga (1895-1972), once in style for modern silhouette.

The Italian Piccioli also became known for sending models with different bodies, skin colors and identities to the catwalk – a rare sight in luxury fashion.

With the change of personnel, Balenciaga takes a stylistic change. “What I get is a brand full of possibilities that is really fascinating,” said Piccioli.

His predecessor, the German designer Demna from Georgia, moved to Gucci in March. Balenciaga and Valentino are part of the French luxury group Kering, which also combines brands such as Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and Bottega Veneta under his roof.

Demna once made the DHL T-shirt a cult object of fashion at the Vetements brand.

He changed Balenciaga fundamentally from 2015. His so-called Memecore aesthetics relied on ironic, provocative designs: handbags in a coffee mug, chunky sneakers or accessories in the style of the 80 cent icea bag became pop cultural phenomena-and caused a sensation on social media.

But not all headlines were positive-after a campaign with teddy bears in bondage outfits, the house apologized in public in 2023.

With the change, Kering reacts to the last weak development of his luxury brands. In the first quarter of 2025, group sales fell by almost 15 percent, Balenciaga is also one of the houses with declines.

In the industry, Piccioli’s appointment is considered a strategic signal. “This is a new moment for fashion,” Piccioli told the magazine “Vogue”. “I think we can create a new picture of fashion – one that is based on self -confidence, humanity and intelligence.” At the same time, he emphasized the respect for his predecessors: “I want to hug the past.”