Balenciaga to create a couture collection for the first time in 52 years

Master of the house.

Luxury fashion house Balenciaga will release a new couture collection this July, an occasion it hasn’t served since 1968.

Creative director Demna Gvasalia, who is behind the decision to return for the AW20 season after 50 years out of the game, said haute couture was a “platform for innovation”.

Gvasalia, who is also the founder of streetwear brand Vetements, joined Balenciaga in 2015.

“It not only offers another spectrum of possibilities in dressmaking, but it also brings the modern vision of Balenciaga back to its sources of origin,” he said of the decision, in a statement on Balenciaga’s website.

Balenciaga’s origin is nothing less than legendary, with the brand’s last couture collection led by Cristóbal Balenciaga himself, the founder of Balenciaga.

Cristóbal Balenciaga was revered as the chief haute couturier of his generation, responsible for reshaping the female silhouette in luxury womenswear. He stopped designing haute couture in 1968 among a period of intense political unrest in France, shortly before his death in 1972.

Now, the label is curating a new team dedicated to couture and setting up an atelier replicating Balenciaga’s original salons at 10 Avenue George V in Paris.

Predictions that Balenciaga would surpass the billion-dollar mark in annual earnings rang true in 2019, making it Kering Group’s largest growing brand.

Together with Gvasalia’s creative vision, this financial success facilitates the new foray into the artistry and craftsmanship that defines the luxury side of the industry and honours the label’s history.

Demna Gvasalia will present the first collection in July.

balenciaga.com