Balenciaga and Manolo Blahnik launch first-ever collab

​Kering’s Balenciaga and resolutely independent Manolo Blahnik announced a first-time collaboration on Thursday on a trio of styles created for the Fall 2026 collection.

They said it’s “an exchange shaped by shared values and an admiration for couture tradition. The partnership reflects the House of Balenciaga’s enduring commitment to artisanal mastery, as well as creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli’s distinct approach to fashion, long inspired by the legacy of Cristóbal Balenciaga”.

It makes sense for the two labels to work together given their dual Spanish roots, as well as “the elegance of craft that unites them”.

So what does the capsule comprise? There’s a low-heeled mule and a slingback with either a 105mm or 50mm heel. With a décolleté cut, we’re told “the silhouettes reveal skin, the body, a display intrinsically linked to the primacy of the human form”.

The styles are “in and of themselves a dialogue, a duet, drawn from designs from the Manolo Blahnik archive, chosen by Piccioli, and fused together. All three are executed in silk-satin, proposed in various colours and lined in Balenciaga grey”.

Each shoe style also features crystal embroidery across a low-cut vamp, something for which Blahnik is known. The company said the embellishments “simultaneously recall archival Blahnik designs and [reference] the 1960s bijoux created by Cristóbal Balenciaga”.

Manolo Blahnik said that “Don Cristóbal Balenciaga is, to me, the ultimate designer. I have adored his work for as long as I can remember. As a Mediterranean boy myself, I have always felt a deep connection to his Spanish culture and sensibility. To be partnering with Balenciaga, and with Pierpaolo, fulfils a lifelong dream. [His] direction for Balenciaga resonates profoundly with my own ideas of how the modern woman should dress in 2026, a vision of timeless elegance rooted in craftsmanship and enduring beauty.”