The China Mail - Piccioli sets new Balenciaga beat, with support from Meghan Markle

The 58-year-old was under huge scrutiny at Paris Fashion Week having replaced the highly rated Georgian designer Demna who left the brand in July having raised its profile and profits over a decade at the helm.

Demna, who counted Katy Perry, Kim Kardashian and Cardi B among Gen Z celeb fans, began the task of reviving fellow Kering-owned label Gucci at Milan Fashion Week last week.

Piccioli will be hoping his Spring/Summer 2026 womenswear designs keep Balenciaga relevant among younger buyers, but he also looked to have toned down the flamboyance and code-breaking of the Demna era.

His front-row also looked different, including the Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle who dressed in an ivory-coloured Balenciaga suit with cape for a rare trip to Europe from her home in California.

"She has long admired his (Piccioli's) craftsmanship and modern elegance, and tonight was no different," a spokesman for the Duchess told Hello! magazine.

- 'Own sensibility' -

The Italian couturier, who made his name at Valentino, took a retro approach to the invitations for Saturday's show, sending his guests a 1980s-style Walkman cassette player with a recording of a heartbeat.

"The heartbeat is the rhythm we share - the pulse that reminds us we are human," he wrote in his notes handed to invitees in the headquarters of Kering on Saturday night.

"Even so, every heart beats differently."

Speaking to reporters, he said it would be "stupid and disrespectful" to overlook the designers before him in the house, while stressing he would leave his own mark.

"I wanted to work, even with the Demna archetype, with my own sensibility, which is of course different," he said.

Demna helped move streetwear onto the catwalks and made regular headlines at the brand with his $2,000 "Ikea" bag, $1,800 so-called "trash pouch", as well as his designer "Crocs" and T-shirts.

He was also behind a much-criticised 2023 advertising campaign that appeared to reference child abuse, leading to a rebuke from billionaire Kering CEO Francois-Henri Pinault.

Piccioli worked for 25 years at Valentino, at first alongside fellow Italian designer Maria Grazia Chiuri.

A flurry of new appointments at major labels have lent this Paris Fashion Week momentous significance.

After debuts by Jonathan Anderson at Dior women or Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez at Loewe, Dutch designer Duran Lantink will step into the limelight on Sunday for his debut as chief creative at Jean Paul Gaultier.

Monday will see the hotly anticipated first collection from new Chanel designer Matthieu Blazy.

- Best of the rest -

Elsewhere on Saturday, Nadege Vanhee-Cybulski presented her Spring-Summer 2026 collection for Hermes in the barracks of the horse-backed Republican Guard security forces, staying true to the house’s equestrian heritage.

"I wanted to bring a much more bohemian touch to horseback riding — to show that it can also mean letting go, freedom, and a hint of ecstasy," explained the French designer, who has designed women’s collections for the label since 2014.

At Vivienne Westwood, inspiration came from old curtains, explained Austrian designer Andreas Kronthaler, who unveiled a colourful new collection at the historic Institut de France, featuring fluid draped dresses and corseted baroque-style silhouettes.

Supermodel Heidi Klum closed the show wearing a white, rhinestone-embellished bustier with a long, airy cape, followed by the designer himself, who appeared carrying a bouquet of sunflowers so large he could barely carry it.

Celebrities including American rapper Ice Spice, singer Demi Lovato and Paris Hilton looked on.

Heidi Klum then left the runway to attend the Elie Saab show at the nearby Palais de Tokyo where the Lebanese couturier -- beloved by stars and Middle Eastern royalty -- presented a wardrobe of sandy tones and bold patterns.

U.Feng--ThChM