Balenciaga

Balenciaga is a Spanish-founded, Paris-based luxury house, today owned by the French group Kering. It was established by the couturier Cristóbal Balenciaga in San Sebastián, Spain — Wikipedia records the founding year as 1919, while the first San Sebastián boutique opened in 1917 [1]. Long defined by haute couture and, more recently, ready-to-wear and accessories, the house returned to beauty in September 2025, when its owner relaunched Balenciaga fragrance in-house after nearly a decade away from the perfume market [2].

The brand remains active. It operated 282 stores worldwide in 2025 and, alongside the fragrance revival, has filed cosmetics trademarks that point to a possible future makeup line.

⚑ Thinner sourcing. The article relies largely on the brand's own statements (T2–T3). Glowpedia is seeking independent sources.

Cristóbal Balenciaga, a Spanish couturier, opened his first boutique in San Sebastián in 1917 and expanded to Madrid and Barcelona. As the Spanish Civil War disrupted business at home, he relocated the house to Paris in 1937, opening on Avenue George V. That address would later lend its name to the brand's first perfume.

In 1947 Balenciaga launched Le Dix, its debut fragrance, named after 10 Avenue George V — the maison's historic workshop and perfumery address [2]. The founder dressed prominent clients of the period, including designing the wedding dress for Queen Fabiola of Belgium in 1960.

Cristóbal Balenciaga closed the house in 1968 and died in 1972. The name was revived commercially the following decade: a ready-to-wear line launched in 1987, after the brand was acquired by the Jacques Bogart fragrance group in 1986 [1].

A series of creative directors shaped the modern house, among them Nicolas Ghesquière, who led design from 1997 to 2012, followed by Alexander Wang. In 2015 Demna Gvasalia took over, steering the label through a decade widely associated with luxury-streetwear before stepping down in 2025. Pierpaolo Piccioli succeeded him as creative director in July 2025 [3].

Balenciaga has been owned by Kering since 2001, when it was acquired by the Gucci Group (then PPR, later renamed Kering) [1]. Within Kering's portfolio it sits alongside houses including Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Brioni and Boucheron. The 2025 fragrance line is produced by Kering Beauté, the group's dedicated beauty division [2].

The house's beauty identity centres on fragrance. The September 2025 collection comprises ten scents, among them Le Dix, No Comment, Getaria, Cristóbal and Incense Perfumum. The relaunched Le Dix is a modern reinterpretation of the 1947 original: archivists located an early bottle and scanned it as the template for the new refillable flacons, which keep the original square silhouette and spherical glass cap. According to Premium Beauty News, the reworked composition blends iris absolute with isolated iris aldehydes, violet leaf absolute and frankincense essential oil, replacing the animal-derived materials of the original with iris aldehyde molecules [2]. Kering Beauté said it had worked closely with the house to balance its heritage with a contemporary expression, and described evaluating ingredients for environmental performance and sourcing risk.

The fragrances launched on 10 September 2025 at a dedicated perfume space at 10 Avenue George V, with a rollout to roughly 200 boutiques across North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, plus an e-commerce focus. They sit in the luxury price tier.

A makeup line has been signalled but not released. In September 2024 the company filed a trademark for its mirrored double-B logo covering cosmetics and perfumes, and in November 2024 it registered the "Le Dix" name with France's industrial-property office across perfume, makeup and scented-candle categories [4]. As of mid-2026 these filings reflect stated intent rather than products on the market; trade coverage of the 2025 fragrance launch described the brand's focus as fragrance-centric, with no makeup line confirmed at that point [3].

In December 2023 the house received a PETA award for a vegan coat [1]. Its named brand ambassadors have included Isabelle Huppert, Michelle Yeoh, Nicole Kidman and Kim Kardashian.

In 2002, creative director Nicolas Ghesquière acknowledged copying a 1973 patchwork vest by the San Francisco designer Kaisik Wong [1].

In November 2022, an advertising campaign known as "Gift Shop," which featured children holding teddy bears dressed in BDSM-style clothing, drew widespread criticism. The company withdrew the campaign and apologised, describing it as "a set of negligent and unfortunate coincidences" relating to props that appeared in companion campaigns [1].

Balenciaga is an active luxury house operating globally under Kering. Its most recent beauty milestone was the in-house fragrance relaunch of September 2025, coinciding with Pierpaolo Piccioli's debut as creative director [3].