For nearly a decade, Demna has been building a universe of characters at Balenciaga—the power-walking executive, the disheveled commuter, the post-apocalyptic streetwear kid, the couture-clad enigma. With Fall 25, he doesn’t introduce new archetypes, instead, he refines the ones we’ve come to know. It’s a culmination of his tenure, a collection that feels like a greatest hits album remastered for the present moment.
But instead of relying on spectacle, Demna strips back the theatrics, letting the clothes themselves carry the narrative. The familiar codes are all here—exaggerated silhouettes, twisted tailoring, the tension between high fashion and functional wear—but presented with a sharper, more introspective focus. The collection, unveiled in a backstage maze that blurred lines between audience and runway, dissects everyday dress codes and pushes them to their extremes.
Take the suiting, for example. A classic black two-piece was shown in multiple variations, shifting attitudes depending on the wearer. One was hand-wrinkled to look like it had survived a week of meetings and missed flights; another came in a moth-eaten pinstripe, giving corporate wear a post-apocalyptic edge. Elsewhere, standard office attire was inverted—a structured jacket paired with a maxi skirt, an ultra-light puffer worn over a cotton piqué polo, a leather wetsuit jacket that felt more dystopian than boardroom-ready.
Outerwear followed the same logic. Maxi trenches with exaggerated godets, cocooned shearling coats referencing Balenciaga’s 1951 Semi-Fitted line, nylon puffers that cinched and curved like corseted gowns—every piece played with proportion and subverted expectations. Even denim wasn’t safe: resin-treated and permanently wrinkled, jeans and jackets looked like they’d been unearthed from another era entirely.
Then there were the swimdresses—water-sport spandex one-pieces that blurred the line between activewear and eveningwear. They sat alongside monumental opera coats in fake fur and black nylon puffers, reinforcing Balenciaga’s ability to make the everyday feel theatrical. Accessories followed suit: Marché plastic bag shoppers were recreated in crushed Dyneema®, a material strong enough for ballistic gear, while hands-free purses and faceless Geneva watch bracelets nodded to the brand’s ongoing fascination with functionality and anonymity.
There were also nods to Balenciaga’s growing obsession with performance wear, seen in the continuation of its collaborations with Alpinestars and PUMA. The Alpinestars partnership delivered protective racing gloves and an ultra-lightweight carbon fiber helmet, while the PUMA link-up followed in the footsteps of Balenciaga’s past collaborations with Adidas and Under Armour. This time, it focused on the Speedcat sneaker—first introduced in 1999 for racecar drivers—reimagined in worn-out suede and archival tracksuits transformed into high-fashion statement pieces.
So, who is this collection for? It’s for those who recognize the characters Demna has created over the past decade and see themselves reflected in them. It’s for the power-walker in an ill-fitting suit, the outsider wrapped in layers of exaggerated proportions, the commuter whose uniform is slightly askew, as if life itself has reshaped it. In fact, the Balenciaga Fall 2025 collection doesn’t care about reinvention—rather, it’s more interested in refining an already established language, distorting it just enough to make it feel new again. Some may argue that this repetition signals a lack of evolution, but Balenciaga has never been about seasonal reinvention but about world-building— perfecting and reiterating a vision until it becomes its own genre.
