Pierpaolo Piccioli’s couture debut reimagines Balenciaga in his own colourful image

Golden age art and Barbara Hepworth were among the inspirations for Piccioli’s first couture collection for Balenciaga. Photograph: WWD/Getty View image in fullscreen Golden age art and Barbara Hepworth were among the inspirations for Piccioli’s first couture collection for Balenciaga. Photograph: WWD/Getty Pierpaolo Piccioli’s couture debut reimagines Balenciaga in his own colourful image Italian designer brings sculptural silhouettes and playful palettes to storied house, while it is hats off to Giorgio’s niece at her second Armani Privé show The house of Balenciaga takes haute couture very seriously indeed. Cristóbal Balenciaga was so horrified by the rise of mass-produced clothes that in 1968 he abruptly shuttered his brand and retired to his native Spain, announcing that “high fashion is mortally wounded”. Chanel brings beanstalk to catwalk in fairytale Paris couture show Read more So Pierpaolo Piccioli, who now helms the house , approached the brief of his first Balenciaga couture collection conscientiously, despite having 25 years of experience at Valentino. At a preview, the haute couture war room where he worked on the show for nine months was plastered with images that ranged from a 1961 Balenciaga dress to Spanish golden age art – Zurbarán’s chic saints, Velázquez’s doll-like infantas – and a monumental Hepworth pierced megalith. Balenciaga’s house style is clothing that stands proud of the body. The organic cocoon curves and bell shapes, with room beneath for air to move around the body, arguably share more DNA with a Hepworth sculpture than with leggings and a tank top. There is a distinctly Zurbarán-adjacent air of mystery and wonder in how the fabric is made, through cut alone, to hover in space rather than cling. View image in fullscreen A headpiece of ostrich feathers was not that tempting under the blistering Parisian sun. Photograph: WWD/Getty View image in fullscreen The collection featured organic cocoon curves and bell shapes. Photograph: WWD/Getty View image in fullscreen ‘Like a giant fluorescent chess piece, a perfect avatar for the pomp and whimsy of couture where anything goes.’ Photograph: WWD/Getty To Piccioli, Balenciaga was “a philosopher for the way you feel in a dress”. As luck would have it, a show nine months in the planning was staged under a blistering Paris sun during a heatwave which has made airy clothes that don’t touch the body look extremely appealing. The embroidered silk gazar of a bustier dress cantilevered out from the body, the fabric bouncing around the model as she walked. (A dense motorcycle helmet-shaped headpiece of ostrich feathers perhaps looked less tempting.) View image in fullscreen Piccioli brought the same colour sensibility to the collection he had employed at Valentino. Photograph: WWD/Getty View image in fullscreen During another European heatwave, airy clothes that don’t touch the body looked extremely appealing. Photograph: WWD/Getty Piccioli took on Balenciaga’s couture heritage wi