UNSIZED – A LIGHTNESS OF BEING


The Spring 27 Balenciaga collection by Pierpaolo Piccioli is an interrogation of the house’s fundamental couture identity, an evolution of the approaches and obsessions of Cristóbal Balenciaga, and a reconsideration of clothing. Their forms, their meanings.

The notion of the individual and its freedom is paramount: reiterating a central Balenciaga edict of the integrity of the human body as the base for creation, the house introduces a philosophical approach, the concept of the “unsized”. A light architecture, that redefines the idea of silhouette construction. The Spring 27 collection is drawn around the body and adjusted to fit through ribbons of cloth, gestures to traditional couture construction methodologies, decoration formed from function. There is a focus on feel, on tactile intention and liberation. Atmospheric and kinetic silhouettes are ever fluctuating, dynamic and uninhibited.

An integral part of the house’s DNA, engineered materiality is a vital instrument for invention. For Spring 2027, this foundational principle of fabric development translates anew to an innovative featherweight techno taffeta, used across this complete wardrobe of Balenciaga archetypes, quotidian pieces conferred with new significance. Throughout, silhouette is subtle, reduced, garments reliant on the ebb and flow of minimized layers of cloth against the body for their architecture. “Unsized” garments are pure expressions of cloth - double cashmere, kid mohair, poplin, denims of different washes. Lightened, entire ensembles weigh less than a kilogram.

The movement of life and reality defines silhouettes, composed from layers of clothes that shift wardrobe paradigms. Jeans may be worn beneath evening gowns in plissé jersey, TechWear pieces juxtaposed with tailoring. Echoes of familial and patrimonial silhouettes - Balenciaga signatures - are reengineered for modern life. Balloon, drape, cocoon. Breathe, hold, release.

Garment typologies are challenged, lines blurred between behaviors. Shirts are given the trains of grand evening gowns, which in turn take on the attitude of t-shirts. Jewelry is transposed to serve purpose, holding volume against form. Accessories are reconstituted with softness and pliability, washed leathers reconsidering the silhouette of Le City, ultralight nappa leather reshaping the Rodeo with nylon linings, shoes malleable, deconstructed to essentiality.

Couture can have an utmost relevance to the everyday. The lookbook of the Spring 27 collection, photographed by Robin Galiegue, captures dichotomies, a tension between the couture salon and the street, poised on the threshold of Balenciaga’s historic home at 10 avenue George V. As in the clothes, there is a constant exchange and intrinsic dialogue, an egalitarian reflection of concurrent yet distinct contemporaneities, and the harmonies to be discovered in a space between. It is a reaction to how people may dress today, both a reflection of study and a new proposal.