Martine Rose Named Balenciaga Creative Director, First Woman to Lead House

Kering and Balenciaga on Friday, Nov. 6, 2026, appointed British designer Martine Rose creative director effective Nov. 16 in Paris, succeeding Pierpaolo Piccioli. Outlets including The Guardian, Vogue and GQ reported she is the first woman to lead the 109-year-old house.

Nov 07, 2026 - 11:14

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British designer Martine Rose has been appointed creative director of Balenciaga, Kering and the house announced Friday, Nov. 6, 2026, according to Kering, The Guardian, Vogue and Women's Wear Daily. Rose will be based in Paris and take up the role on Nov. 16, 2026, Kering said. She succeeds Pierpaolo Piccioli, whose departure was announced Thursday after a tenure outlets described variously as three seasons or less than 18 months; Business of Fashion reported that Piccioli, formerly of Valentino, took over Balenciaga in July 2025.

First woman to lead Balenciaga

The Guardian, Vogue and GQ reported that Rose will be the first woman to serve as creative director in Balenciaga's 109-year history. The Guardian and Business of Fashion also reported that she is the second Black woman to lead a major European fashion house, following Grace Wales Bonner's 2025 appointment as men's creative director at Hermès. Business of Fashion said Rose is the first creative-director hire under Kering chief executive Luca de Meo, who has also initiated creative changes at Saint Laurent, Alexander McQueen and Brioni.

In the Kering statement, Rose said: "It is a true privilege to be appointed Creative Director of Balenciaga, a House with an extraordinary heritage and a fearless creative spirit. Balenciaga has been shaped by remarkable creative talents before me. I am committed to honoring this legacy and look forward to creating the next chapter in this rich and beautiful story." De Meo said Balenciaga "has always been a House of radical creativity" and that Rose "embodies this spirit with a fresh, fearless and deeply contemporary vision," citing her connection to a new generation and "instinctive understanding of culture." Balenciaga president and CEO Gianfranco Gianangeli called Rose "an extraordinary creative talent with a bold and highly distinctive vision" and said her ability to "challenge conventions, reinvent silhouettes and bring an unexpected perspective to fashion" resonates with the house's spirit of innovation, according to Kering, WWD and Vogue.

Return after Demna-era menswear work

Rose previously worked at Balenciaga as a menswear consultant under Demna from 2015 to 2018, Vogue, GQ and Harper's Bazaar reported, helping shape oversized proportions associated with that period. She will now oversee both menswear and womenswear, The Guardian reported. Business of Fashion said menswear accounted for as much as half of Balenciaga's revenue under Demna and that Kering appears to be betting on renewed cultural relevance among younger buyers. Vogue reported that de Meo has said Balenciaga understands Gen Z vibes and plans to double the house's women's ready-to-wear by 2030 while accelerating leather goods led by bags including the Rodeo and City lines.

Rose founded her eponymous London label in 2007, according to Kering, The Guardian, Vogue, GQ and WWD. Outlets describe her work as rooted in British subcultures spanning football, reggae, rave and house music, with sportswear, everyday clothes and distorted tailoring. Collaborations cited by WWD, GQ and Harper's Bazaar include Nike, Supreme, Clarks — where she was the company's first guest creative director in 2023 — Tommy Hilfiger and Napapijri. In 2023 she was a guest menswear designer at Florence's Pitti Uomo, The Guardian and WWD reported.

Celebrity clients and namesake label context

The Guardian, Vogue, GQ and WWD reported celebrity wearers of Rose's designs including Kendrick Lamar, Timothée Chalamet, Drake, Rihanna and Hailey Bieber. The Guardian said Lamar wore a custom Martine Rose varsity jacket reading "Gloria" at his 2025 Super Bowl half-time show and had previously name-checked her in a song; Vogue noted he posted about working with her during his Big Steppers tour in 2022. Harper's Bazaar said Rose was born in south London in 1980 to a British Jamaican family; The Guardian similarly reported her Jamaican father worked as an accountant and her British mother was a former nurse, and that she studied fashion at Middlesex University after a Camberwell foundation year.

WWD reported Rose sold a majority stake in her label to Tomorrow Ltd. in 2021; Vogue said she sold a 60 percent stake to Tomorrow in 2023 and that Tomorrow later sold the brand to Italian company The Level Group. Business of Fashion said Tomorrow, sold in March to Andrea Ciccoli, co-founder of The Level Group, holds a majority stake and that the label faced Brexit-related and logistics cost pressures. WWD reported the fall 2026 namesake collection did not go into production amid efforts to disentangle from Tomorrow; Vogue said Rose has not staged a fashion show since spring-summer 2026 last June, while The Guardian said she had not staged a show since June 2025. WWD said the eponymous collection is sold through about 200 stockists including Dover Street Market, Nordstrom and Browns online.

What comes next

GQ reported that Balenciaga has not yet said when Rose's first collection will arrive. Harper's Bazaar framed the hire as a shift toward the edgier cultural language associated with Demna after Piccioli's shorter tenure, which Business of Fashion described as bringing romantic couture credentials to a house previously defined by provocative communications and exaggerated everyday fashion. Vogue noted Rose's appointment sits within a wider Kering creative shake-up that has also included exits at Saint Laurent and Alexander McQueen, with successors still to be named at those houses.