Hours after Pierpaolo Piccioli’s exit from Balenciaga, Kering confirmed the house’s next creative director: London designer Martine Rose. She starts in Paris on 16 November 2026, Vanity Fair Italia and Kering both report — a swift hand-over that ends weeks of industry speculation.
From London subculture to Avenue George V
Rose founded her eponymous label in 2007 after studying fashion design at Middlesex University. Her menswear draws on London’s music scenes, sportswear codes and the social language of dress — proportion games, unexpected casting, familiar archetypes twisted just enough to feel new. She has collaborated with Nike and Supreme, and between 2015 and 2018 consulted on Balenciaga menswear under Demna, helping shape the oversized silhouette that defined that era. Returning now as creative director of the whole house is a different scale of responsibility: women’s and men’s ready-to-wear, couture and accessories under one vision.
Why Kering moved so fast
Piccioli’s romantic, couture-led tenure lasted only three seasons after he joined in July 2025. Kering CEO Luca de Meo called Balenciaga a house of “radical creativity” and said Rose brings “a fresh, fearless and deeply contemporary vision” plus a natural link to a younger audience. Balenciaga president and CEO Gianfranco Gianangeli praised her instinct for reinventing silhouettes. Vogue notes she will be the first woman — and the first person of African-Caribbean heritage — to lead the 109-year-old house founded by Cristóbal Balenciaga. Business of Fashion frames the hire as de Meo’s first creative appointment at the brand, signalling a sharper cultural reset after a brief classical interlude.
What it means for how we dress
Expect less runway romance and more street-rooted volume, sport-inflected cut and bags that look lived-in rather than precious. That mood travels well beyond a logo: a structured tote from our handbags or shoulder bags, a sharp crossbody from the men’s bags edit, and a flash of colour from earrings or a sculptural ring. Rose’s own words set the brief: honour the house’s fearless spirit, then write the next chapter.
Sources: Vanity Fair Italia; Kering; Vogue; Business of Fashion.
