It was a rumour we all wanted to believe, but now we have the official confirmation. As announced this morning (November 6), Martine Rose is headed to Balenciaga to take over the men’s, women’s and couture collections. “It is a true privilege to be appointed creative director of Balenciaga, a house with an extraordinary heritage and a fearless creative spirit,” said Rose. “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.”

The news comes mere hours after parent company Kering parted ways with Pierpaolo Piccioli following less than 18 months at the helm. “Pierpaolo is an exceptional couturier and creative talent for whom we have the greatest respect,” said CEO Luca de Meo yesterday. “Our ambition is to build on Balenciaga’s avant-garde spirit, honour its remarkable heritage and continue to push creative boundaries.” And, now, Balenciaga is taking that leap with Martine Rose.

For the past decade, every time there was an opening at a luxury fashion house, Rose’s name floated through the rumour mill. In every magazine interview the London designer has been asked if she’d consider joining a big brand, and finally, we have a definitive answer: yes.

“For me to stay engaged [at a fashion house], there would have to be certain things I wouldn’t compromise on, like a certain amount of street casting,” Rose told us last year in an interview for our summer 2025 issue. “I want to show more facets of myself, I hate the idea of being pigeon-holed. The challenge is to constantly show something new. The future is complex and rich.” 

2027 will mark the 20th anniversary of Rose’s eponymous brand, and what better way to celebrate than by entering a new chapter? Rose is due to take on her new role at Balenciaga effective November 16, so we suspect her first collection will be some time next summer. However, in a way, she has already made her debut at the house, over a decade ago. Back in 2015, shortly after his arrival at Balenciaga, Demna hired Rose as a consultant, helping him to launch its first-ever menswear collection. Because of this, she’s already played a pivotal role in shaping Balenciaga’s identity, which means she’s basically the perfect person for the job – read on for all our reasons why.

SHE HELPED BUILD BALENCIAGA AS WE KNOW IT

Rose and Demna first connected somewhere around 2013 – during his time working at Louis Vuitton, before he started Vetements. Later, when Vetements was taking the world by storm, the Georgian designer expressed his admiration for her work via email – he didn’t want anything from her, just to tell her that he was a fan of her work. A year later, in 2015, it was announced that Demna was taking over at Balenciaga. Naturally, Rose reached out to offer her congratulations, and in response, Demna suggested they meet. 

For Rose, this came at a time when she was squatting and working in bars in London, trying to make ends meet while simultaneously designing for her own brand. She’d also just given birth to her daughter, who was barely three months old. Demna asked her to join Balenciaga as a consultant, effectively putting her in charge of the brand’s menswear division, while he focused on womenswear. 

She designed Balenciaga’s menswear line for three years between 2015 and 2018, and today credits the role with helping to bring more attention to her own brand. According to past interviews, it was only after she had Balenciaga on her CV that buyers began to notice her.

BOTH BRANDS ARE INSPIRED BY DANCE

Both Martine Rose and Balenciaga are heavily inspired by dance movements. Your favourite designer’s favourite designer, Cristóbal Balenciaga founded his brand over a century ago, in 1919, in the northern Spanish city of San Sebastián. He was nicknamed the ‘King of Fashion’, often taking inspiration from his Spanish roots – Andalusian flamenco dresses, for example, became a common theme throughout his designs. 

Meanwhile, Martine Rose takes inspiration from her British-Jamaican heritage, often drawing from music and dance as the starting point for her collections: London’s underground rave scene, hip-hop, ska and punk. Although a world away from Balenciaga’s 1960s Flamenco dresses, movement connects the two. 

THERE’S ALREADY A SHARED FANBASE 

When Demna left Balenciaga, he left a streetwear-sized hole at the brand. And while Piccioli has been giving subtle nods to Demna’s era throughout his collections, the two designers have two very different customers. Piccioli, who previously headed up Valentino, is known for his beautiful gowns and red carpet-ready couture. His Balenciaga collections have acted as a reminder of the avant-garde foundations that the house was built on, but while his couture clients sit front row, Demna’s hypebeasts are getting lost in the stores. However, there is room for both. The couture clients are of equal importance to the hypebeasts, and who better to regain that audience than the woman who made them fall for Balenciaga in the first place?

SHE WAS A SCULPTOR BEFORE A DESIGNER 

Both Balenciaga and Martine Rose are known for taking silhouettes to the extremes. Before switching to fashion, Rose initially studied sculpture. Although there seems to be no trace of it online, she claims her graduate collection was heavily inspired by her sculpture background, exploring a range of experimental silhouettes. Since then, she’s never been afraid to play with proportion – think of her boxy shoulders, nipped waists and ballooning bombers. 

Then look at Cristóbal Balenciaga, a master sculptor himself who once said: “A couturier must be an architect for design, a sculptor for shape, a painter for colour, a musician for harmony, and a philosopher for temperance.” Some of his most groundbreaking designs pushed silhouettes to places they’d never before been: the sack dress, the cocoon and egg coats, to name a few. 

THE TIMING IS RIGHT 

Working at Balenciaga for three years between 2015 and 2018 was Rose’s first job in fashion outside of her own brand. Since then, she’s collaborated with Clarks, Nike and Supreme, but her own label has been her focus for the past twenty years. Earlier this year, it was announced that the designer was being forced to cancel the production of her AW26 collection due to unresolved issues with the brand’s shareholder, Tomorrow. Then, this November, it was announced that Coperni would be shuttering, following conflict with the same shareholder. As it stands, we don’t currently know what this means for the future of the Martine Rose label. We hope and pray that she plans to continue her brand, but clearly, there will need to be some sort of change or resolution. It’s also possible that, after two decades, Rose is ready for a change herself. Regardless of her own label’s future, one thing’s for certain: the future of Balenciaga is in safe hands.