55TH COLLECTION
THIS COLLECTION IS THE RESULT OF A FEELING.
WE WORKED WHILE GETTING TO KNOW EACH OTHER, LEARNING TO UNDERSTAND ONE ANOTHER.
WE BUILT OUR OWN LANGUAGE, FULL OF NEW WORDS AND TIMELESS ONES.
WE SEARCHED, WE TRIED, WE REMEMBERED.
THIS COLLECTION IS THE RESULT OF THE WORK OF THE PEOPLE IN THE ATELIER,
HUMAN BEINGS WHO ARE COUTURE–BECAUSE COUTURE IS MADE BY THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE IT.
THIS NOTE IS TO THANK EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THEM FOR THEIR TIME, LOVE, AND COMMITMENT.
THIS IS OUR COLLECTION, THIS IS OUR WORK, THIS IS BALENCIAGA COUTURE, NOW.
– PP
WE WORKED WHILE GETTING TO KNOW EACH OTHER, LEARNING TO UNDERSTAND ONE ANOTHER.
WE BUILT OUR OWN LANGUAGE, FULL OF NEW WORDS AND TIMELESS ONES.
WE SEARCHED, WE TRIED, WE REMEMBERED.
THIS COLLECTION IS THE RESULT OF THE WORK OF THE PEOPLE IN THE ATELIER,
HUMAN BEINGS WHO ARE COUTURE–BECAUSE COUTURE IS MADE BY THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE IT.
THIS NOTE IS TO THANK EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THEM FOR THEIR TIME, LOVE, AND COMMITMENT.
THIS IS OUR COLLECTION, THIS IS OUR WORK, THIS IS BALENCIAGA COUTURE, NOW.
– PP
55TH COLLECTION
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An embrace of Balenciaga’s principles, as a Maison de Couture—rooted in its axioms, its anomalies, its truths. The 55th Balenciaga Couture collection, the first conceived by Creative Director Pierpaolo Piccioli, is a celebration of the intent and essence of Balenciaga, grounded in the actuality of this métier. The notion of Couture, the nature of Couture, entirely reconsidered for our contemporaneity.
Couture as information—a manner of creation that may orientate both the actions and reactions of a House. A territory for experimentation and engineering, it can be a prism through which to witness both the current moment, and the identity of Balenciaga. A fundamentalism—Couture here is once again placed at the center of the House’s meaning, shaping its being.
Change comes from inside. Silhouettes are sculpted through architecture, the cut and fall of fabric determining their physicality and harmonies with the humans within, reshaped and reformed. A sequence of tailored coats and dresses in cashmere are based on three-dimensional digital scanning of individuals, adapting their attitudes into poses that then form a basis for molding leather as internal carapaces, affording architectonic structure and improbable lightness. Breaking from inside, decoration unfolds at hem or within lapels, contrasting with external rigor.
Couture as information—a manner of creation that may orientate both the actions and reactions of a House. A territory for experimentation and engineering, it can be a prism through which to witness both the current moment, and the identity of Balenciaga. A fundamentalism—Couture here is once again placed at the center of the House’s meaning, shaping its being.
Change comes from inside. Silhouettes are sculpted through architecture, the cut and fall of fabric determining their physicality and harmonies with the humans within, reshaped and reformed. A sequence of tailored coats and dresses in cashmere are based on three-dimensional digital scanning of individuals, adapting their attitudes into poses that then form a basis for molding leather as internal carapaces, affording architectonic structure and improbable lightness. Breaking from inside, decoration unfolds at hem or within lapels, contrasting with external rigor.
An evolution of heritage. Balenciaga’s tradition of textile innovation is underscored by the introduction of AMSilk, an advanced bioengineered silk alternative, to Couture. Created via DNA editing and laboratorial protein engineering, AMSilk is fossil fuel-free and renewable: its fibers resemble spider’s silk, with a tensile strength 2.5 times that of steel. The House’s neo-gazar—a reconsideration of the material invented by Cristóbal Balenciaga, reintroduced in Pierpaolo Piccioli’s début—is used as both outer fabric and an internal structure, its paradoxical combination of lightness and structure affecting the clothes around. In certain instances, outfits are reiterated, in the second instance reduced to pure expressions of silhouette in black, like shadows, to reset the eye and emphasize shape and form. These are outward expressions of the architectures that define Couture.
The achievement of impossibilities. Feathers are a metaphor—weightless, delicate, yet with tensile strength. Embroideries become structural, integral. A collaboration with Philip Treacy results in sculptural forms in feather that question the boundaries between millinery and garment.
History is past, there is no rigid translation—yet all reflects the ideology of Cristóbal Balenciaga, resonates with his meaning. A reconsideration of the body, its form, its rapport with a garment. A fundamentalism, an echo of belief systems, rather than superficiality. His freedom. The inherent dichotomies of his work are embodied by garments that shift between austerity and exuberance, while others melt tailoring into flou, fusing two noble traditions in an exacting pursuit of lightness.
Balenciaga’s obsession with three dimensionalities, with Couture as true sculpture, results in forms that must be viewed in 360-degrees to be truly understood.
A philosophy of Couture can inform an instinctive mindset, to nurture a house today.
The achievement of impossibilities. Feathers are a metaphor—weightless, delicate, yet with tensile strength. Embroideries become structural, integral. A collaboration with Philip Treacy results in sculptural forms in feather that question the boundaries between millinery and garment.
History is past, there is no rigid translation—yet all reflects the ideology of Cristóbal Balenciaga, resonates with his meaning. A reconsideration of the body, its form, its rapport with a garment. A fundamentalism, an echo of belief systems, rather than superficiality. His freedom. The inherent dichotomies of his work are embodied by garments that shift between austerity and exuberance, while others melt tailoring into flou, fusing two noble traditions in an exacting pursuit of lightness.
Balenciaga’s obsession with three dimensionalities, with Couture as true sculpture, results in forms that must be viewed in 360-degrees to be truly understood.
A philosophy of Couture can inform an instinctive mindset, to nurture a house today.