BALENCIAGA | MANOLO BLAHNIK
The essence of couture is evoked through excellence and expertise - working with
specialist artisans in defined areas, to achieve superlative quality, pre-eminence in
a medium. It is an approach that defines the identity of the house of Balenciaga,
and has always both shaped and inspired Creative Director Pierpaolo Piccioli’s
distinct approach to fashion. In conscious reflection of this ideology, Balenciaga
collaborates with Manolo Blahnik, the master shoe designer with over five decades
of experience, on a trio of styles for the Fall 2026 collection.
A creative exchange between Pierpaolo Piccioli, Manolo Blahnik and the spirit of Cristóbal Balenciaga, the collaboration highlights the dual Spanish roots of Blahnik and Balenciaga, Piccioli and Blahnik’s mutual admiration of the oeuvre and legacy of Balenciaga, and the mastery of craft shared by all three.
BALENCIAGA I MANOLO BLAHNIK comprises a low-heeled mule, and slingback with either 105mm or 50mm heel. With décolleté cut, the silhouettes reveal skin, the body, a display linked intrinsically to the primacy of the human form in Pierpaolo Piccioli’s methodology of creation at Balenciaga. The styles are in and of themselves a dialogue, drawn from designs from the Manolo Blahnik archive, chosen by Piccioli, and fused together. All three are executed in silk-satin, proposed in various colors and always lined in Balenciaga grey.
Gestures of elegance, fragments of couture, each shoe style is characterized by crystal embroidery across a low-cut vamp, echoing Blahnik’s distinct flair for embellishment and for crafting shoes that resemble jewels with an equal preciosity and delicacy. These embroideries simultaneously recall archival Blahnik designs, and are referent to the 1960s bijoux created by Cristóbal Balenciaga. A constant duality underscores a shared aesthetic kinship, a distinct symbiosis, in the firstever collaboration between the Maison and this esteemed creator.
A creative exchange between Pierpaolo Piccioli, Manolo Blahnik and the spirit of Cristóbal Balenciaga, the collaboration highlights the dual Spanish roots of Blahnik and Balenciaga, Piccioli and Blahnik’s mutual admiration of the oeuvre and legacy of Balenciaga, and the mastery of craft shared by all three.
BALENCIAGA I MANOLO BLAHNIK comprises a low-heeled mule, and slingback with either 105mm or 50mm heel. With décolleté cut, the silhouettes reveal skin, the body, a display linked intrinsically to the primacy of the human form in Pierpaolo Piccioli’s methodology of creation at Balenciaga. The styles are in and of themselves a dialogue, drawn from designs from the Manolo Blahnik archive, chosen by Piccioli, and fused together. All three are executed in silk-satin, proposed in various colors and always lined in Balenciaga grey.
Gestures of elegance, fragments of couture, each shoe style is characterized by crystal embroidery across a low-cut vamp, echoing Blahnik’s distinct flair for embellishment and for crafting shoes that resemble jewels with an equal preciosity and delicacy. These embroideries simultaneously recall archival Blahnik designs, and are referent to the 1960s bijoux created by Cristóbal Balenciaga. A constant duality underscores a shared aesthetic kinship, a distinct symbiosis, in the firstever collaboration between the Maison and this esteemed creator.