Over the years, fashion’s revolving door has spun several designers into houses that might not necessarily align with their natural creative expression.
That doesn’t seem to be an issue with Pierpaolo Piccioli at Balenciaga, whose silhouette-intensive approach syncs up with house founder Cristóbal Balenciaga’s obsession with exacting shapes — sometimes austere and linear; sometimes all poufs and ballooning volumes.
His methodology?
“Engineering the cuts, not using so many fabrics, not using additional structures, but arriving at the perfect meld between the fabric, the shape, the color and the surface — as if you used only one gesture to create the object,” the designer explained to WWD during an interview earlier this week. “When I react to fabrics and colors, it’s very personal and instinctive.”
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Wednesday’s Balenciaga couture show, staged in a scenic courtyard at the Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris, saw Piccioli display his talent for the kind of dramatic and dreamy dresses that can make your heart soar.
He conscripted British singer Anohni — his go-to vocalist during his long, acclaimed tenure at Valentino — to accentuate the emotional timbre of the display. It also served to heighten similarities to his work at the Roman house.
While a royal pain to get to, and very uncomfortable with seats encircling a hedge under the blazing midday sun, the outdoor venue helped to ground the grandeur of the clothes, putting a bit of a breeze in the models’ hair and disturbing the 24,150 shredded gazar petals adorning one vast strapless gown.
Maximalist surfaces on minimalist shapes became a recurring story in the collection, exemplified by the plethora of fuzzy, full-legged pants, the tubular embroideries or silky hairs lapping under lean cashmere coats.
Piccioli and his young team also melded tailoring and flou techniques in single garments, such as a dead-simple black T-shirt dress, the top given full-canvas construction; the skirt part free-hanging in the same black fabric.
The same idea was effective in eveningwear, too, especially in a black bustier dress with an undulating protrusion that went just past the hips, over which pleated chiffon drifted freely.
During a preview, Piccioli led a tour of Balenciaga’s couture atelier, showing off a funnel-necked, tortoise-backed Stockman, upon which seamstresses were hand-molding leather and cashmere.
The sleek coats this technique produced were arresting in profile, as were his puff-sleeved silk gazar bomber jackets with bulging backs, which are bound to rack up some orders, giving an instant couture allure.
The show climaxed with a parade of feathery, topiary-like gowns of stacked volumes, reaching a crescendo with Gigi Hadid staring out from a dramatic, face-framing, body-engulfing hood of jutting rooster feathers.
There was little daywear to speak of, unless you count the floor-sweeping chinos, and the odd couture tee and tank top, but Piccioli made no apologies.
“You have to dream about couture. I want to deliver a dream about this house,” he said.
Clients, influencers and celebrity guests rose to their feet clapping at the conclusion of the show, when Piccioli reprised another Valentino-ism and came out for his bow with the entire couture studio and atelier, all dressed in their white couture coats.
As soon as he turned his back, everyone scrambled for the shade.
