On 27 May, the French luxury fashion house Balenciaga hosted a grand opening of its Beijing flagship store after its renewal. The four-storey, 1,204 sqm shop in Taikoo Li Sanlitun is now home to the largest Balenciaga store in the world.
The design of the refurbished store is a continuation of Balenciaga’s avant-garde brand image with a concrete-based brutalist look across the floors. And for the opening, the brand brought 6 vintage formal dresses designed by its founder, Cristóbal Balenciaga. These vintage Balenciaga garments made their first China appearances on the top floor at the Beijing flagship as an exhibition called Women Behind the Dress. The display focuses on the relationship between the brand and its celebrity clients, as these dresses were worn by big names such as Grace Kelly and Ingrid Bergman in the 1950s and 1960s.
Balenciaga also hosted friends of the brand, including actresses Zhang Xiaofei and Yang Chaoyue, actors Arthur Chen and Ethan Juan, table tennis star Wang Manyu and supermodel Wang Wenqin. The TIAO bar from Mandarin Oriental provided appetisers and drinks at the opening event. The brand also brought exclusive releases such as an upcycled T-shirt, a China-exclusive colourway for its Chips handbag and a Peking duck bag charm.
Like Gucci and Loewe before it, Balenciaga is also in the process of transition with its new creative director, Pierpaolo Piccioli. Before Piccioli reshaped the prestigious house in his direction, it was important for the Maison to remind one of its most important markets of its heritage in couture, as well as its post-modern look under Demna in the past decade. With luxury facing headwinds in 2025, it will be interesting to see how the brand pivots with its new creative direction.