The collection is all about bringing Couture sensibility into ready-to-wear, where Creative Director Pierpaolo Piccioli investigating the high fashion form as not just a methodology but also as an ideology…
I’ve been following Pierpaolo Piccioli since his Valentino days. He’s a kind man that doesn’t think too highly of himself in terms of the fashion celebrity-driven world that he’s a part of. Like other brands presenting for the Summer 2027 season, Balenciaga is following suit and created a collection with what I’m calling “Couture sensibilities.” Piccioli has drawn upon the brand’s identity of Maison de Couture and their Summer 27 Couture collection to create the SS27 ready-to-wear collection.
The collection is inspired by French artist Aude Franjou’s 2025 scenography Les Coraux de la Liberté, expressed through wrapped linen. The art piece is an analogy to the fashion collection, where a house that’s known for its Couture is not just a physical structure, rather it’s a larger ecosystem that’s living, breathing, and alive.
The Front Row: Anna Wintour and François-Henri Pinault (center two) | Photo Credit: Gemma Larkin
Garments take a nod from the archives and Mr. Cristóbal Balenciaga’s Basque influence and philosophy of the body as the basis. Volume that the Basque people are known for are seen in leather and cotton, as well as t-shirts. Hence, bringing a sense of Couture into ready-to-wear with everyday looks. This every day wear is making fashion relevant in a new way for a new generation, and for the future.
A deep orange evening dress of imagined flowers cascading down in organza and filled with compressed air is a stunner- and one of Piccioli’s favorite looks from the collection. Collars are high and structured, cuts are biased, shoes are soft, handbags aren’t strongly structured, and sunglasses are large yet authentic. All of this sums up the wearability of this couture sensibility, of this couture savoir faire in ready-to-wear that Balenciaga is delivering to the world.
In the last few seasons, fashion critics have voiced luxury fashion’s inability to create wearable pieces that catch the attention. Something needed to change and it seems Piccioli has taken note because Les Coraux de la Liberté or The Corals of Freedom is ready-to-wear getting some Couture love and TLC, that will hopefully convince luxury consumers to buy.
Discover the collection
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