It’s official. Kering and Balenciaga have appointed Martine Rose as Creative Director, confirming the reports that surfaced as Pierpaolo Piccioli’s departure was announced on Thursday. Based in Paris, Rose will take up the role on November 16, 2026.
The appointment is a homecoming. Rose spent three years as a menswear consultant at Balenciaga after Demna brought her in in 2015 to help shape his first menswear line for the house, work that helped define the oversized, boxy silhouettes that became the brand’s modern signature.
Rose called the appointment “a true privilege,” describing Balenciaga as a house with an extraordinary heritage and a fearless creative spirit, and said she is committed to honouring the talents who shaped it before her while writing its next chapter.
Kering CEO Luca de Meo said Rose embodies Balenciaga’s radical creativity with a fresh, deeply contemporary vision, pointing to her connection with a new generation and her instinctive understanding of culture. Balenciaga President and CEO Gianfranco Gianangeli praised her ability to challenge conventions and reinvent silhouettes, calling her an extraordinary creative talent.
Since founding her eponymous label in 2007, Rose has built a distinctive design language rooted in subculture, music, identity and the social codes of dress, drawing on everything from rave and hip-hop to punk. Her work has long sat between the underground and the fashion establishment, and her name has come up for major creative roles for years, including at Balenciaga when Demna left for Gucci in 2025.
She succeeds Piccioli, whose 2025 appointment was widely read as a return to the house’s couture roots and whose tenure lasted less than two years. Rose’s arrival points in a different direction, back toward the culture-driven energy she helped build at Balenciaga a decade ago.
All eyes now turn to her debut collection.
Featured Image: Kering
