Balenciaga is taking a darker approach to winter. For its Winter 26 campaign, the house puts sculptural tailoring, exaggerated outerwear and flashes of bright colour against deep shadows in a series of images inspired by Renaissance painting.
Titled Clair-Obscur, the campaign was photographed by Robin Galiegue and features Anok Yai, Liu Wen and Dara Gueye. The images centre on the contrast between light and darkness, echoing the chiaroscuro technique associated with High Renaissance art.
The campaign also marks another step in Pierpaolo Piccioli’s development of Balenciaga since joining the house as creative director in 2025. Rather than recreating Renaissance dress, Piccioli takes its use of contrast and brings it into the house’s existing design language.
That tension is most visible in the outerwear. High collars, rounded shoulders and oversized proportions give hooded jackets, peacoats and blousons much of their shape. Leather, shearling and wool feature alongside paillette-embroidered satin, creating a mix of heavier winter materials and more decorative surfaces.
Colour is used sparingly but deliberately. Most of the looks sit within dark neutrals before brighter, almost acidic shades cut through the palette. The effect mirrors the campaign’s treatment of light, where individual areas of a look emerge sharply from the darker setting.
The accessories follow the same approach. The Hourglass Avenue Bag reworks one of Balenciaga’s established handbag shapes, while the Le 7 Bowling Bag is introduced for the season. Footwear includes the curved Bloom Pump and Midnight City Mule, which bring a softer shape into a collection otherwise dominated by strong outerwear.
The campaign images keep the focus on those contrasts. Galiegue photographs the models against a controlled studio setting, using shadow to emphasise the construction of the clothes. Rounded backs, high collars and draped silhouettes become as important to the images as the garments themselves.
For Piccioli, the High Renaissance offers a way to reference Balenciaga’s past without treating it as a costume archive. The collection draws on historical codes, while the campaign places those references in a contemporary setting, reducing them to shape, proportion and light.
