Today, the world of fashion is digesting the news of Pierpaolo Piccioli becoming Balenciaga creative director – with the guessing game coming to an abrupt halt. The post has been vacant subsequent to Demna switching houses to save Gucci (following the not-so-unexptected departure of Sabato De Sarno in February). Demna will present his final Balenciaga collection in July during Haute Couture Paris Fashion Week – with Piccioli taking the reins July 10. The Italian designer joins the Spanish Paris-based fashion house after parting ways with Valentino in early 2024, having served as creative director for 25 years. The revered designer joins Balenciaga at a challenging moment for parent company Kering, who reported a 14% year-on-year decline in first quarter sales to €3.9bn.⁠

Balenciaga Appoints Pierpaolo Piccioli Creative Director View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Pierpaolo Piccioli (@pppiccioli)

Read below the reactions of theFashionSpot’s forum members:

“Girl simply what? Why wouldn’t they put him at Gucci and Demna at Balenciaga? This makes no sense.” [cheapthrills]

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“I am going to give him a chance, but as I was expecting, I am disappointed in this appointment. Congratulations to him anyway.” [Salvatore]

“All I’m gonna say is: LOL Kering CEOs really want to see the ship sink!” [Creative]

“Very pleasantly surprised at the negative reactions here, to be completely honest. IMO, any creative director is better than the trite Demna served up at Balenciaga. All I require from Pierpaolo Piccioli is for him to inject some glamour, elegance, and sophistication back into Balenciaga.” [vogue28]

“I personally was wishing for Pieter [Mulier] or Daniel [Rsoeberry] cause I find them more exciting fashion-wise, but this makes sense. Balenciaga desperately needed someone that would clean up the house, and bring some class back. Pierpaolo is a perfect person to do that. I can’t wait to see what he does for couture there.” [Marc10]

“The good thing is that it cannot get worse than Demna’s regurgitations.” [VogueDisciple93]

“I kinda optimistic about it!” [pryvli]

Share your own thoughts on Pierpaolo Piccioli becoming Balenciaga creative director, here.